How To Update PHP For WordPress Websites (Explained In 4 Steps)

WordPress is largely used around the world for website development and content management. Being a prominent software in today’s time, people hopefully look at it for offering powerful  security and optimization features. Sometimes these essentials are met by installing and activating a bunch of plugins,  But do you know your website security is not only dependent on WordPress plugins but other factors as well?

 

To be specific, your PHP version has a lot to do with the core protection of your WordPress website from malicious actors. Now the very first question you will come up with is what is PHP and what it has to do with WordPress. To tell you in short, it is a programming language in which your WordPress software is thoroughly written (more on this later).

 

In this article, we’ll let you know a variety of things such as what is PHP, why you should update it.

Which of its versions your WordPress website is currently running, and more importantly how can you switch it to higher versions. But before I start the discussion I want you to learn about a client-winning web design Los Angeles company - SFWP Experts. Positively impacted the revenue of many businesses across the globe, this is an agency you can hire to avail website creation and promotion services on time and on budget.

 

Letting this rest, we’ll now shift our focus to the primary topic in this article - what is PHP?

 

What Is PHP And Why Should You Update It?

 

PHP is the short of Hypertext Preprocessor, an open source scripting language that’s used for website development.

Since your WordPress website is the product of PHP, when someone clicks on your web page, the code is processed through your server and converted into HTML to display on the screen of your visitors. The best thing about PHP is that you don’t really need it to learn by heart unless you want to create WordPress themes, plugins, or customize your personal or professional site.

 

There are various advantages of updating PHP for your WordPress website:

 

  • Speed up your website

  • Secure your website

  • Makes your themes and plugins compatible

 

Now that you know what a PHP update can bring to you, you must find time to upgrade it to its latest version.

In case you face certain technical issues that you are completely unfamiliar with, give us the chance to resolve it and pull your site to normal functioning. Just so you know, our Wordpress developer experts team is building brand new impressive websites and fixing their technical and non-technical problems for over ten years now.

 

With this on halt, now let’s see how to check the current version of PHP your WordPress website is using.

 

How To Check the PHP Version of Your WordPress Website?

 

A simple way to know this is head over Tools > Site Health in your WordPress dashboard then hit the Info tab located at the top of the page.

 

Post that, go to Server dropdown and there you will find the actual version of PHP your site is relying on.

If your site is running on an outdated version of PHP, make sure it is updated to the newest version available.

 

Don’t you want to do all this yourself and need someone to maintain your website? Then you can count on us to keep your website up and running 24/7 without letting your users have the bad experiences. To be absolutely frank, our Wordpress website design company is looking after more than 200 websites presently and if yours get added next we will be happier to serve you as well.

 

Being done with the PHP version check, let’s switch attention to how to update your PHP version.

 

How To Update PHP of Your WordPress Website?

 

Well, you’ll have to do it using the control panel of your hosting account.

We recommend you take a backup of your WordPress website before doing it since that will come in handy if something goes wrong unexpectedly. Plus, it is also advised to test your PHP update in a staging or local environment before implementing it to the actual site. This will save you from running into compatibility issues for themes or plugins or any unpredictable bugs or errors.

 

Now let’s get started:

 

Step 1 - Create A Backup

 

Before we go any further, the first thing you need to do is take and store a backup of your website including its files and database both.

 

Step 2 - Build A Staging Site

Next, you are required to set up a platform for your site testing, no matter if it is local or the staging environment - check this with your web host. Now bring your copied site in the testing environment so you can nicely test the replica of your actual site.

 

Once you have done that, update your PHP to the latest version and start testing it for compatibility issues with any of themes, plugins or other software.

 

Step 3 - Check The Compatibility of Your Recently Upgraded PHP Version

 

In this step, you have to thoroughly analyze your test site and ensure that everything is working fine even after the PHP updation. Some helpful tools readily available at your disposal to do this are PHP Compatibility Checker, Error Log Monitor, WP_DEBUG and a few more.

While testing your site if you come across any issues, find out its solutions and then rerun your website. In addition, you also need to make sure you don’t forget to make the same changes on your actual site once you have implemented it on your testing site.

 

Step 4 - Change PHP Variant In Your Control Panel

 

After you have completed the testing of the staging site, it's time to actually update your PHP in cPanel. In order to do this, you will have to log into your cPanel and locate PHP Version Manager.

 

Then select the directory or website whatever you want to update (depends on how your control panel has been structured).

 

When you have finished it, you will be provided the option to choose from different PHP versions you want your WordPress website to have.

Now select the exact version of PHP for your site and then click on the Save button. This will get you the most recent PHP on your site and that will result in better performance and full compatibility with your themes and plugins.

 

Check And Update The Version of Your PHP

 

I hope this blog would have made you clear about why you need to update the PHP version of your WordPress website and how to do it. If there is anything running in your mind about the discussed topic, feel free to ask us 24/7. Since our Los Angeles web design company is in this line for several years, we guarantee to provide you perfect solutions for any issue you come across while running your WordPress website. A few areas where SFWPExperts have tight grip on include WordPress web design and development, homepage web design and development, internet marketing, social media marketing, and SEO.

How To Update PHP For WordPress Websites (Explained In 4 Steps)

By mikedavistech

How To Update PHP For WordPress Websites (Explained In 4 Steps)

WordPress is largely used around the world for website development and content management. Being a prominent software in today’s time, people hopefully look at it for offering powerful security and optimization features. Sometimes these essentials are met by installing and activating a bunch of plugins, But do you know your website security is not only dependent on WordPress plugins but other factors as well? Read more on https://bit.ly/2ZAs43c

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