If, like me, your site is powered by a self hosted WordPress, you will be familiar with seeing a message from WordPress, urging you to upgrade to the latest version of the software. It is important that you upgrade WordPress to the latest version as soon as possible. Most of the time, your web hosting provider will upgrade php automatically. If they are slow to upgrade PHP on their server, you can do it yourself.
The first reason you should upgrade without delay each time you see the message is for security. Upgrading to the latest version will ensure your site is difficult to hack into. One of the secondary reasons is that you get a tiny bit of SEO boost. Most of the major search engine algorithms now recognise sites that are up to date, and factor that into their ranking algorithm. You can read more information about boosting your SEO ranking on Temi UK.
Upgrading PHP to the latest version on WordPress is quite straight forward. Here is how to go about it:
Upgrading PHP on WordPress to the latest version
You need the following:
- cPanel or other form of access to your hosting account
- Admin access to the WordPress website you want to upgrade php on
Step 1: Login to the wordpress admin dashboard of the website to know the PHP version you want to update to.
Step 2: Login to the website’s cpanel, go to select PHP version and click on the version you want to update to and save changes.
- Tick Mysqli check box under the selected php version to complete the update.
