Automatic updates sound like the responsible option. WordPress quietly updates itself, your plugins stay current and you never have to worry about that intimidating list of update notifications again.
The problem is that an update being installed successfully doesn’t mean your website is still working properly afterwards.
My position is simple: WordPress updates are essential, but important business websites should be updated in a controlled way, with a recent backup and proper checks afterwards.
An automatic update can create an automatic problem
Your WordPress website isn’t one piece of software. It’s a collection of moving parts that have to work together.
You may have WordPress itself, the Divi theme, Divi Builder, Wordfence, a caching plugin, contact forms, payment systems, membership software, course plugins and several smaller plugins performing jobs you’ve long forgotten about.
Each developer releases updates on their own schedule. Most updates are perfectly fine, but occasionally one change doesn’t play nicely with another part of the website.
That conflict might cause an obvious error, such as a broken page or a blank screen. It can also create a quieter problem that’s much easier to miss.
- A Divi layout may lose its formatting.
- A contact form may stop sending notifications.
- A checkout button may stop responding.
- A membership rule may stop granting the correct access.
- A caching conflict may make the site look broken to visitors while it still looks fine to you.
With automatic updates enabled, any of these things can happen while you’re asleep, working with a client or taking a few days away from your business.
The update email isn’t the same as an update check
WordPress may send you an email saying a plugin or theme was updated. That message confirms that the update process ran. It doesn’t confirm that your website was thoroughly checked afterwards.
It doesn’t test your forms, payments, logins, member access, course delivery or important page layouts. It doesn’t open your website on a mobile phone and notice that something suddenly looks wrong.
This is where many business owners get caught out. They assume that because the update completed without displaying an error, everything must be fine. Sometimes the first person to discover the problem is a potential client trying to contact them or make a purchase.
Why Divi websites need particular care
Divi is a powerful theme and visual builder, but it also sits at the centre of how your pages are structured and displayed. A change involving Divi, WordPress core or a plugin that interacts with the builder can affect more than one small feature.
For example, an update may change how scripts are loaded, how cached files are generated or how a module communicates with another plugin. The website may technically remain online while a page section, popup, form or mobile layout stops behaving as expected.
That’s why I don’t like handing complete control of Divi, plugin and WordPress updates to an automated process with nobody checking the result.
The answer isn’t to avoid updates
Turning off automatic updates does not mean ignoring updates for weeks or months.
Outdated WordPress software can create security vulnerabilities, compatibility issues and performance problems. Leaving a long list of pending updates because you’re frightened something might break isn’t safer. It simply creates a different kind of risk.
The safer approach is managed updating.
- Check that a recent backup exists and can actually be accessed if it’s needed.
- Review the available updates rather than blindly updating everything at once.
- Apply updates in a controlled way so it’s easier to identify the cause if something goes wrong.
- Clear relevant caches so you’re looking at the updated version of the website.
- Check important pages and functions, including forms, payments, logins, menus and mobile layouts.
For a simple hobby website, you may decide the convenience of automatic updates is worth the risk. For a website that generates enquiries, sells services, processes payments or gives members access to paid content, I believe the standard should be higher.
Your hosting company may not be maintaining your website
Another common misunderstanding is assuming that because you pay for website hosting, somebody is actively maintaining your WordPress site.
Your hosting company looks after the server your website lives on. That doesn’t usually mean someone is checking your Divi layouts, testing your contact forms or confirming that your membership access still works after every update.
Those are website maintenance tasks, and unless you or a website care provider is handling them, they may not be happening at all.
Hoping nothing goes wrong isn’t a maintenance plan. Neither is assuming somebody else must be checking because the website still appears online.
What I recommend instead
Keep your automatic updates disabled for WordPress core, Divi and the plugins that are important to how your business operates. Then create a regular routine for reviewing, backing up, updating and testing the website.
That routine can be handled by you if you’re comfortable doing it properly. It can also be managed through a WebCare Plan if you’d rather have someone experienced with WordPress and Divi take responsibility for it.
My WebCare Plans include routine WordPress, Divi and plugin updates, backups, security monitoring, uptime checks and ongoing oversight. The goal isn’t to make you more dependent on technical help. It’s to give you confidence that somebody is paying attention before a small issue becomes an expensive emergency.
Your website should support your business, not leave you wondering what changed overnight. Updates matter. So does knowing the website still works after they’ve been installed.
Content brief and business context supplied by ET Digital Designs. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
