Skip to Navigation
Are you wondering if it’s worth it to use a WordPress activity log? Or why you might need one? An activity log is a crucial element in WordPress maintenance keep reading to learn why.
- Why do you need activity log monitoring for your WordPress site?
- How does activity log monitoring work?
- When can a WordPress activity log plugin be useful for your site?
- What are the benefits of using a WordPress activity monitor?
- WordPress activity monitoring plugins worth trying!
- TL;DR: Final thoughts on log monitoring for your WordPress websites
WordPress activity log monitoring is an important part of any 👉 website maintenance service 👈. This type of monitoring provides a comprehensive view of all activities on your WordPress website.
It allows you to identify potential security issues and analyze user behavior. It can also help you quickly detect and rectify any abnormalities. These abnormalities include those in the site’s performance and functionality.
By monitoring WordPress activity logs, you can ensure that your site is running smoothly and securely. While also providing valuable insights into user behavior.
Furthermore, tracking activities on your WordPress website can help you identify potential problems. And take corrective actions as soon as possible.
In short, WordPress activity log monitoring is a 👉 beneficial part of any website maintenance service 👈, as it helps you ensure a secure and efficient website.
Why do you need activity log monitoring for your WordPress site?
There are a number of reasons why you need an activity log to monitor your WordPress site:
- Debugging
- Unwanted user profiles
- Holding people on your development team accountable
Let’s review each of these in a little more detail to see why you need an activity log for your WP site.
Debugging
If during the editing or updating process, something breaks on your site. An activity log can help you fix the problem really quickly. You will know where exactly the error took place, in order to patch it up. This reduces the downtime of your website and speeds up the fixing process.
Unwanted user accounts
User management is a crucial task in WordPress activity monitoring. You want to ensure that the people who access your WordPress admin panel have permission to do so. Also, activity logs will show you the IP addresses that are used by users. If someone uses a strange IP address, it may be a hacker. Also, failed login attempts could be an indication that someone is trying to hack your site.
Tracking user activity
Monitoring the activity of existing user profiles can help you hold people accountable. People make mistakes. If you knew what the wrongdoing was then you would quickly fix it and show the user ways of avoiding this problem later. Also, some errors can be costly and have major consequences for your WordPress website and your business. That’s why it’s best to monitor user activity and hold people accountable for actions.
How does activity log monitoring work?
There are numerous monitoring solutions for WordPress. After the activation of the activity log plugin. The monitoring software will automatically monitor the page. By default, notifications will be sent by e-mail.
You will receive email notifications of any changes made to your site. You can analyze which user activity is normal and what you deem suspicious admin activity. If something seems suspicious you can react immediately.
When can a WordPress activity log plugin be useful for your site?
If you haven’t installed a WordPress activity log plugin since the birth of your website, there are some reasons you may want to consider doing so now. Check them out.
Drop in website traffic
One time when an activity log might be useful includes a drop in website traffic. Sometimes a drop in website traffic may be due to a change in content or perhaps something on your site is not working. For example, a user may not be able to access certain content due to permalink changes, broken links, etc.
When it comes to changes in content it can lead to SEO issues. For example:
- using the wrong keywords
- deleting webpages
- outdated content
Suspicious login attempts
Bruteforce attacks continue to be the biggest cyber attack today. 80% of all data breaches occurred by brute force in 2022. The first part of your website security means that the login screens of the site can be used in the most sophisticated ways for such hacks. Hackers may attempt to gain access to a dashboard on WordPress through a different login name and email address. This failure can be seen in a security audit log. Keep these warning signs of a brute-force attack in mind.
A way to monitor login attempts is to use a WordPress activity log plugin. This way you can see who is trying to log in. If it’s just a failed login attempt or if someone is actually trying to hack your site, who does not have access or permission?
What are the benefits of using a WordPress activity monitor?
There are a number of benefits of using a WordPress activity monitor. Some of them include being able to monitor and troubleshoot, along with monitoring user activity. Another major benefit of an activity log is boosting website security. Let’s get into each of these in more detail.
Monitoring & troubleshooting
Using an activity log can you monitor user activity on your website. You can identify problems and errors quickly. If you do not have an activity log plugin you will not be able to identify if a problem occurred due to the WordPress core updates, plugins, or human error.
Some things that you can monitor with the help of a WP activity log include:
- content changes
- permalink changes
- changes in security settings
- comment moderation
- track user activity
- your WordPress hosting account
And so much more.
Gain a better understanding of editor behavior
When we give users access to our website, we usually have some level of trust that they will not mess up our site. And that any changes that site editors make will be a plus, not a minus. When you install an activity log plugin, you can monitor content changes made on your site.
Content is the most dynamic aspect of a WordPress site. Users can create entries and change a page, delete comments, etc. It is another way of monitoring what changes have been made to a blog or article’s content or status. Monitoring all content tweaking helps optimize website search rankings and searchability efforts.
Improve website security
When hackers are hacking into your website they log your progress. Using an exhaustive list of what the hackers are doing you can find out what has changed and the infections. Once we learn of the people behind it, it’s a good way to clean it up.
Additionally, your activity logs can show if the hackers gained access to your website. So you can tighten your security measures to prevent another attack from happening. One popular way to improve website security is by installing a plugin such as WordFence.
WordPress activity monitoring plugins worth trying!
Let us recommend a few different WordPress activity log plugins you can use on your websites.
WP Security Activity Log
One popular WordPress plugin to monitor user activity is the WP security activity log. This plugin allows WordPress site owners or developers to:
- ensure user productivity
- hold editors accountable
- perform troubleshooting tasks more efficiently
- spot suspicious behavior before they create security problems
This plugin has been used by popular websites such as WPBeginner, GoDaddy, and Kinsta.
Activity Log plugin
A free plugin we can recommend is the Activity log plugin. This plugin is like the black box in a plane that logs all activities in your WordPress admin. It will give you a complete overview of the activities of your site editors and administrators.
It will alert you to things like someone trying to hack your page. Or who made an error while editing that caused something to break on your site?
Do you want to check the health of your website?
TL;DR: Final thoughts on log monitoring for your WordPress websites
Protecting a WordPress website is an important task for any business or individual. It is essential to stay on top of any changes or activities that may affect the security of a website. WordPress activity log monitoring is a helpful tool to:
- monitor activities,
- detect anomalies,
- and identify potential threats to a website.
By keeping track of user activities, admin changes, and other activities, WordPress activity log monitoring can help website admins stay on top of any necessary maintenance tasks. In addition to providing security benefits, activity log monitoring can help optimize website performance and improve user experience. With WordPress activity log monitoring, website owners can ensure their website is secure, up-to-date, and running smoothly.
Some popular plugins to monitor activity in WordPress include:
- WP Security Activity Log
- Activity Log plugin
Each of these plugins can be installed with the help of your WordPress dashboard. Then you can set each one up from the plugin page.
Want to learn more about WordPress activity logs, 👉 drop us a line 👈. Let’s chat and see how an activity log will help with the functioning and security of your WordPress site.
Comments