How to Put Your WordPress Website in Maintenance Mode

Running a website goes hand in hand with running a business. However, there are moments when your website needs to undergo updates, upgrades, or debugging. During these periods, displaying a functional but potentially unstable website to your visitors can harm your professional image. This is where WordPress Maintenance Mode comes into play!

This guide will walk you through what WordPress Maintenance Mode is, why it matters, and how to activate it for your website seamlessly.

What is WordPress Maintenance Mode?

WordPress Maintenance Mode is a feature that temporarily takes your website offline whilst showing visitors a placeholder message. This message often informs users that the website is under maintenance or undergoing improvements. Meanwhile, you can continue to work behind the scenes without the worry of breaking your live website or confusing your audience.

If a website isn’t consistently updated and fixed for bugs, it’s at risk of not working as it should for your users and, if it breaks, this will result in detrimental downtime. There’s also a large security risk when things aren’t up to date and you could lose valuable customer data. So, planning for your maintenance tasks is a key part of website ownership. 

Related Read: 10 WordPress Maintenance Tasks That Keep Your Site Running Optimally

Why Use Maintenance Mode on Your WordPress Website?

Using WordPress Maintenance Mode can:

• Preserve Professionalism: A broken or partially functional website reflects poorly on your business.
• Avoid Visitor Confusion: Maintenance Mode assures visitors that your website is not permanently down.
• Provide SEO Benefits: Properly configured Maintenance Mode prevents search engines from indexing incomplete pages or errors during updates.

When Should You Activate WordPress Maintenance Mode?

You should active WordPress Maintenance Mode:

• During significant plugin, theme, or core WordPress updates.
• When redesigning or restructuring your website.
• While troubleshooting bugs or errors.
• When migrating your website to a new hosting provider.

How to Put Your WordPress Website in Maintenance Mode

There are two primary methods we recommend for enabling Maintenance Mode in WordPress:

• Using a WordPress plugin, or
• Instruct a team of WordPress experts (like us here at KIJO!) to take over your maintenance routine for you!

For those without coding expertise, and those not looking to work with an expert WordPress care team, using a plugin is the easiest way to enable WordPress Maintenance Mode. Below we’ll take you through each method.

WordPress Maintenance Mode: Plugin Step-by-Step Process

Here’s how to put your WordPress website into maintenance via a reliable plugin.

Choose a Maintenance Mode Plugin

Popular options include:

• SeedProd
• WP Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon
• Elementor Pro (with built-in Maintenance Mode)

Install and Activate the Plugin

• Navigate to your WordPress dashboard.
• Go to Plugins > Add New.
• Search for your chosen plugin, click Install, then Activate.

Related Read: KIJO’s 15 Best WordPress Plugins

Customise the Maintenance Page

• After activation, go to the plugin settings.
• Design your Maintenance Mode page with a clear, branded message. Consider including:
  • A concise explanation (e.g., “Our website is currently undergoing maintenance so we can provide you with an even better experience! Please check back soon.”)
  • Contact information or a link to your social media.
  • An estimated time for completion, if applicable.

Activate Maintenance Mode

• Locate the activation toggle or switch in the plugin settings and turn it on.
• Test your website by visiting it in an incognito browser window to ensure visitors see the Maintenance Mode page.

Then, when you’re done, exit Maintenance Mode!

WordPress Maintenance Mode: Working With WordPress Experts

Alternatively, you can instruct trusted WordPress experts to do all of your essential maintenance tasks for you! The KIJO WordPress Maintenance service – KIJO Care – focuses on ensuring secure, fast, and optimally functioning websites. We provide monthly updates, daily backups, malware scanning, and uptime monitoring. Our package includes comprehensive audits, performance optimisation, and detailed reporting, all completed by our UK-based, expert team. By opting to work with a maintenance team , this mitigates risks like downtime, weak security, and functionality issues, and we offer reliable and professional support for WordPress websites.

Read more about KIJO Care here.

Best Practices for Using Maintenance Mode

• Communicate Clearly: Let visitors know why your website is down and when they can expect it to return.
• Keep the Maintenance Window as Short as Possible: To avoid the website being crawled by search engines and have its rankings compromised, try to keep your maintenance window as short as possible. 
• Test Changes Before Going Live: Always verify that the maintenance page displays correctly and all behind-the-scenes updates work as intended.
• Minimise Downtime: Schedule maintenance for off-peak hours to reduce visitor inconvenience.

Conclusion

WordPress Maintenance Mode is an essential tool for those who want to maintain a professional and trustworthy online presence. Whether you choose a plugin or a manual method, enabling Maintenance Mode ensures a seamless experience for your visitors whilst you improve your website behind the scenes.

By following this guide, you can confidently put your WordPress website into Maintenance Mode, safeguarding your brand reputation and optimising user experience.

However, if you’d rather remain hassle-free, it’s probably worth contacting us…

Book a Complimentary Consultation with KIJO’s Head of Partnerships

Need expert guidance on your next digital project, hosting or maintenance? Book a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with our Head of Partnerships & Co-Founder, Kirk Thompson. Let’s bring the vision of your brand to life—book your free consultation via the link below:

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