20 Things to Do Immediately After Installing WordPress

You have installed WordPress successfully.

Your website is live, you can access the WordPress dashboard, and you’re ready to start designing pages.

But before installing a theme, adding dozens of plugins, or creating your homepage, there are a few important things you should do first.

A fresh WordPress installation comes with default settings that aren’t necessarily suitable for every website. Spending a little time configuring WordPress properly can help you avoid problems with security, SEO, performance, backups and website management later.

If you’ve just installed WordPress, use this practical checklist before you start building your website.

1. Configure Your Site Title and Tagline

Start with the basics.

Go to:

Settings → General

Check your Site Title and Tagline.

WordPress may initially use a generic tagline such as:

Just another WordPress site

You definitely don’t want that appearing on a professional website.

Use your business or website name as the site title and write a meaningful tagline if your theme uses one.

If you don’t need a tagline, you can leave it blank.

While you’re here, also verify your administration email address.

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2. Set the Correct WordPress Timezone

This is a small setting that is surprisingly easy to forget.

Go to:

Settings → General → Timezone

Select the timezone that matches your website or business location.

An incorrect timezone can affect:

• Scheduled posts
• WooCommerce orders
• Booking systems
• Website logs
• Email notifications
• Scheduled tasks

It is much easier to configure this correctly at the beginning than troubleshoot incorrect timestamps later.

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3. Enable HTTPS

Your website should load using:

https://example.com

rather than:

http://example.com

Most hosting providers now provide SSL certificates, often at no additional cost.

Configure SSL before adding significant content to your website.

After enabling SSL, check:

Settings → General

Make sure both your WordPress Address and Site Address use https://.

Also test a few pages to make sure your browser doesn’t report mixed-content warnings.

Starting with HTTPS is much easier than migrating a completed website from HTTP later.

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4. Choose the Right Permalink Structure

Your permalink structure controls how WordPress generates URLs.

Go to:

Settings → Permalinks

For many business websites and blogs, a clean URL such as:

example.com/wordpress-security-guide/

is preferable to a URL containing unnecessary parameters.

The exact structure you choose depends on your website, but choose it before publishing large amounts of content.

Changing URLs later can create broken links and require redirects.

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5. Check Search Engine Visibility

This setting deserves special attention.

Go to:

Settings → Reading

Look for:

Discourage search engines from indexing this site

If you’re developing the website privately or on a staging environment, preventing indexing may make sense.

But once the website goes live, make sure you review this setting.

It is surprisingly common for a completed WordPress website to launch while still discouraging search engines from indexing it.

That simple oversight can create a serious SEO problem.

We covered this and several similar issues in our guide to common WordPress installation mistakes.

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6. Delete the Default WordPress Content

A new WordPress installation usually contains some sample content.

You may see things such as:

• Hello world!
• Sample Page
• Default comment

If you don’t need them, delete them.

There is no benefit in keeping placeholder content on a real website.

Starting with a clean dashboard also makes the website easier to manage.

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7. Remove Themes You Don’t Need

WordPress normally includes one or more default themes.

You may also install several themes while deciding which design to use.

Once you’ve selected your theme, remove the ones you know you won’t use.

You can keep one current default WordPress theme as a troubleshooting fallback if you want, but there is usually no reason to keep several unused themes installed.

Less unnecessary software means less maintenance.

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8. Remove Unnecessary Plugins

The same principle applies to plugins.

Don’t start a new website by installing every plugin someone recommends in a YouTube video or blog post.

Install a plugin because your website actually needs the functionality.

Before adding one, ask yourself:

Does WordPress, my theme, or one of my existing plugins already do this?

Avoid having multiple plugins performing essentially the same job.

Plugin quality and necessity matter much more than simply counting how many plugins you have.

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9. Configure Automatic Backups

Don’t wait until your website breaks before thinking about backups.

Your backup strategy should be configured early.

A proper WordPress backup should normally include both:

• Website files
• Database

Depending on your hosting environment, backups may be handled by your hosting provider, a WordPress backup solution, or both.

The important thing is not simply having a backup option enabled.

You should know:

• How frequently backups are created
• How long they are retained
• Where they are stored
• How to restore them

And periodically verify that the backups actually work.

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10. Secure Your Administrator Account

Your WordPress administrator account has significant control over the website.

Protect it accordingly.

Start with a strong, unique password.

Avoid obvious usernames and don’t share one administrator login among several people.

If multiple people need access, create separate accounts and give each person only the permissions they need.

For important websites, consider adding two-factor authentication and appropriate login protection.

Good WordPress security starts with good account management.

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11. Check Your WordPress User Roles

Not everyone working on your website needs to be an Administrator.

WordPress includes several user roles, including:

• Administrator
• Editor
• Author
• Contributor
• Subscriber

Give users the lowest level of access required for their work.

For example, someone who only writes blog posts generally doesn’t need permission to install plugins or modify themes.

This becomes particularly important as your team grows.

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12. Configure WordPress Discussion Settings

If you’re going to publish blog posts, review:

Settings → Discussion

Decide whether you want comments enabled.

If comments are useful for your website, configure moderation and spam protection appropriately.

If your business website doesn’t need comments at all, disabling them may make more sense.

Don’t simply accept the defaults without considering how you actually want visitors to interact with the website.

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13. Install an SEO Plugin — But Configure It Properly

An SEO plugin can make managing technical SEO much easier.

It can help with things such as:

• SEO titles
• Meta descriptions
• XML sitemaps
• Canonical URLs
• Robots directives
• Schema settings

But installing an SEO plugin doesn’t automatically optimize your website.

Go through its configuration carefully.

Check which content types should be indexed, make sure your sitemap works, and avoid accidentally creating unnecessary indexable archives.

SEO plugins are tools.

They still need sensible configuration.

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14. Create and Check Your XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap helps search engines discover important URLs on your website.

WordPress itself provides basic sitemap functionality, while many SEO plugins provide additional sitemap controls.

After configuring your website, open the sitemap and make sure it contains the content you actually want search engines to discover.

You generally don’t want your sitemap filled with test pages, unwanted archives or other unnecessary URLs.

Once the website is ready, you can submit the sitemap through Google Search Console.

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15. Check Your robots.txt and Indexing Rules

Your robots.txt file gives search-engine crawlers instructions about parts of your website.

Don’t copy a huge robots.txt configuration from another website without understanding it.

Your requirements may be completely different.

More importantly, remember that robots.txt, noindex directives and WordPress’s search-engine visibility setting are related concepts but don’t all do exactly the same thing.

Before launch, check the actual indexing rules applied to your important pages.

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16. Set Up Google Search Console

Once your public website is ready for Google, connect it to Google Search Console.

Search Console can help you understand:

• Which pages Google has indexed
• Search queries bringing visitors to your site
• Sitemap status
• Crawling problems
• Indexing issues
• Core Web Vitals
• Manual actions and security issues

It is one of the first tools I would configure for any business website where organic search matters.

Don’t wait until you have an SEO problem to start using it.

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17. Optimize Images Before Uploading Hundreds of Them

Large images are a common reason WordPress websites become unnecessarily slow.

Don’t upload a 5 MB photograph directly from a camera or phone when the website only displays it at a much smaller size.

Before building the entire site, decide how you’re going to handle:

• Image dimensions
• Compression
• Modern image formats
• Thumbnails
• Lazy loading

A little discipline from the beginning prevents your media library from becoming filled with oversized files later.

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18. Configure Caching and Basic Performance Optimization

Website speed affects user experience and can also influence search performance.

Depending on your hosting environment, you may have server-level caching, a CDN, a WordPress caching plugin, or a combination of these.

Don’t blindly activate every optimization option.

Some settings can conflict with themes, JavaScript, WooCommerce carts, login sessions or other dynamic functionality.

Configure caching appropriately and then test the website.

Pay particular attention to:

• Homepage
• Contact forms
• Mobile layout
• Login
• Cart
• Checkout
• Account pages

Performance optimization should make the website faster without breaking functionality.

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19. Configure WordPress Email Properly

This is something many developers discover only after a contact form stops delivering messages.

WordPress can send emails for:

• Password resets
• Contact forms
• WooCommerce orders
• User registrations
• Security alerts
• Website notifications

Don’t assume email delivery is working just because WordPress was installed successfully.

Send test emails.

For business websites, using authenticated SMTP or another reliable transactional email setup is generally preferable to relying blindly on the server’s default mail configuration.

Test important emails before launching.

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20. Create a Staging and Update Strategy

Finally, decide how you’re going to maintain the website after launch.

WordPress websites change continuously.

WordPress itself gets updates. Themes get updates. Plugins get updates. PHP versions change.

For a small website, some updates may be straightforward.

For an important business or WooCommerce website, major changes should ideally be tested before being applied to production.

A simple workflow is:

Backup → Test → Update → Verify

For larger changes:

Development/Staging → Testing → Production

Don’t make “update everything directly on the live website and hope for the best” your maintenance strategy.

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Bonus: Test the Website Like a Visitor

Once the technical setup is complete, stop looking at the website only from the WordPress dashboard.

Open it like a real visitor.

Try it on your phone.

Use an incognito/private browser window.

Click the menu.

Submit the contact form.

Check important buttons.

Try search.

If it’s a WooCommerce website, test the complete purchase journey.

Also check:

• Broken links
• Missing images
• 404 pages
• Mobile responsiveness
• Forms
• Social links
• Footer links
• Page speed
• Favicon
• Logo
• Contact information

You’d be surprised how many small issues become obvious when you simply use the website like a customer.

WordPress After-Installation Checklist

Here is a quick checklist you can save for your next WordPress project:

• Configure site title and tagline
• Set the correct timezone
• Enable HTTPS
• Configure permalinks
• Check search engine visibility
• Remove default content
• Remove unused themes
• Remove unnecessary plugins
• Configure backups
• Secure administrator accounts
• Review user roles
• Configure discussion settings
• Configure your SEO plugin
• Check the XML sitemap
• Review robots and indexing rules
• Connect Google Search Console
• Optimize images
• Configure caching
• Test WordPress email delivery
• Create an update and staging strategy
• Test the website as a real visitor

You don’t necessarily need to complete every advanced optimization on the first day.

The goal is to create a clean, secure and maintainable foundation before your website starts growing.

WordPress Installation vs WordPress Configuration

One mistake beginners often make is assuming the work is finished as soon as WordPress has been installed.

Installation simply gives you a working WordPress application.

Configuration turns that installation into a website that’s ready for real visitors.

Think of it this way:

WordPress installed → WordPress configured → Website built → Website tested → Website launched → Website maintained

Skipping the configuration stage often means dealing with those problems later.

Final Thoughts

Installing WordPress may take five minutes.

Setting it up properly takes a little longer — and that extra time is worth it.

A clean initial setup gives you a better foundation for security, SEO, performance and future maintenance.

You also don’t need to install dozens of plugins or apply every optimization you find online.

Start with the essentials.

Configure WordPress properly, secure it, create reliable backups, make sure search engines can understand it, test important functionality and then start building.

If you’re new to WordPress, you may also want to read our guide on 15 Common WordPress Installation Mistakes You Should Avoid. It covers the problems that frequently happen during the initial WordPress setup and how to prevent them.