How to back up a WordPress site without losing new ads
Users post ads, open accounts and send messages between two backups. Here is a backup plan that keeps their work, and a way to restore that erases as little of it as possible.
In this guide
- Back up the files and the database every night, not every week
- Keep every backup off your server, in storage such as Google Drive
- Take a fresh backup by hand right before every update
- A full restore erases new ads, so restore only the part that broke
- On Site Care, we make the daily backups for you
Here is how to back up a WordPress site, in short. Install a backup plugin such as the free UpdraftPlus, and set it to copy the files and the database every night. Send each copy off your server, to storage such as Google Drive, and test that it restores.
Backups come first on our WordPress maintenance checklist, and a listing site makes them harder. A full restore erases every ad, account and message users added since the backup. So you back up every night and, when you restore, bring back only what broke.
What a WordPress backup must include
A WordPress backup has two halves, the files and the database. A backup plugin such as UpdraftPlus saves them as five parts, and you can restore each part on its own.
| Part of the backup | What it holds | When it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Database | Ads, users, messages, orders, pages and settings | Every hour on a busy site |
| Uploads | Photos in ads, logos and other images | Every day |
| Plugins | The code of each plugin | When you update a plugin |
| Themes | Your theme and its child theme | When you update the theme |
| Others | Other folders inside wp-content | Rarely |
The database is the heart of a listing site. Every ad, account and message your users create goes there, together with your pages and settings.
Each of those ads lives in the database, next to its user's account. Restoring yesterday's database erases everything users did today.
How to back up a WordPress site, step by step
Most setup steps happen in WordPress, under Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups. Tick them as you go. Four of them are explained below the list.
Your backup plan for a listing site
13 tasks
Set it up once
-
The guide is in the Listivo Help Center, and it works the same with any theme.
How to create Backup? -
The guide uses weekly as its example. A listing site needs daily.
-
A backup kept on the same server is lost with the server.
-
Keep at least a week, for problems you notice late.
-
WordPress runs scheduled tasks only when someone opens the site.
WP-Cron system -
Every week
-
The list of backups shows the date of the newest one.
-
If it is missing, the upload failed.
Before every update
-
Last night's backup does not hold the ads posted today.
-
-
If you restore it later, you know which ads came after it.
Every three months
-
Database, plugins, themes, uploads and others. A part that is missing cannot come back.
-
Your server company or your developer can set up the test site.
1. Back up every night, not every week
On a listing site, a weekly backup is not enough. Say 30 ads arrive each day, and you restore a backup that is six days old. About 180 ads disappear, along with the messages about them.
2. Keep every backup off the server
A backup on the same server is only half safe, because a failed disk or a hacked site can take both. UpdraftPlus sends each backup to Google Drive, Dropbox or another storage you pick. You choose it on the plugin's Settings tab, below the schedule.
3. Test a restore before you need it
A backup proves itself only when you restore it. Every three months, restore the newest one on a test site, never on the live one. If these three things work there, your plan works.
- Search shows your ads, and the filters still narrow them
- An ad page shows all its photos
- A test user can log in and see their own ads
4. Take a fresh backup before every update
Last night's backup misses everything users posted today. So click Backup Now right before you update the theme, a plugin or WordPress, at a quiet hour.
Write down when it finished. If the update fails, you know which ads came after the backup. Our guide on how to update a WordPress theme without losing your changes shows the full order of an update.
Start a listing site where backups are not your job
Get your own MyHome, Listivo or Vehica website, ready in a minute. Keep it on Site Care, and we make the daily backups.
Try a theme free Free for 7 days. No card needed.How to restore a WordPress backup without losing new ads
A restore puts the site back to the moment of the backup. On a listing site, users have added new ads since then.
So restore only the part that broke, and leave the database out whenever you can. In UpdraftPlus, click Restore next to the backup, and tick only the parts you need.
| What went wrong | Restore only | New ads and users |
|---|---|---|
| A plugin update broke the site | Plugins | Kept |
| A theme update broke the site | Themes and plugins | Kept |
| Ads or settings were deleted or damaged | Database, as the last step | Lost since the backup |
Did the site break right after an update? Then first follow what to do in the first hour after an update, before you restore anything. Often, turning one plugin off is enough.
When you must restore the database
Sometimes only the database can fix it, for example when ads were deleted by mistake. Then work in this order.
- Export all ads to a spreadsheet with WP All Export, so today's ads are on a list
- Note who signed up or paid since the backup
- Restore the database, and nothing else
- Clear the cache, then check search, an ad page and the login
- Write to each user whose ad or package is gone, and say what happened
Let the theme's authors make your backups
Site Care, our monthly plan for MyHome, Listivo and Vehica sites, includes daily backups. We also update the theme and WordPress for you, after a fresh backup, as in step 4 above. We check your site after each update, and if something is wrong, we restore it.
Your website stays yours, and you can export it whenever you want. Already running one of our themes? Write to us and we move it to Site Care, and it stays online while we work.
Starting a new listing site?
Each theme is free to try for 7 days, on a website of your own.
A real estate agency or agent that shows its own listings
Classifieds or a directory where users post their own ads
A car dealer, or a car marketplace where dealers post cars
Site Care fits owners who change their site in Elementor and the settings. If a developer edits your theme's code, keep your own server and the plan above.
Rather have us make the backups?
On Site Care, you skip the plugin, the schedule and the storage.
Site Care
The team that made your MyHome, Listivo or Vehica site keeps it backed up, updated and fast, with Premium Support included.