Track Updates on Your WordPress Site

How to see what changes have been made on certain pages on the website

WordPress Revisions

WordPress keeps track of revisions for posts and pages. In the WordPress dashboard, when you edit a post or page, you can view previous revisions and compare them. This allows you to see exactly what changes were made, when they were made, and by whom. It's a built-in feature that's especially useful for tracking updates and reviewing changes made over time on your site.

LIMITATIONS

• Limited to WordPress Content: It only tracks revisions for posts, pages, and custom post types within WordPress. Changes made outside of WordPress (e.g., directly in theme files or via plugins) may not be tracked.
• Storage Limitations: Depending on your WordPress settings, older revisions may be automatically deleted to conserve database space.
• Privacy Concerns: Revisions may include sensitive information or drafts that were not intended for public viewing, so access should be controlled.

Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org)

The Wayback Machine is a great tool to see historical snapshots of web pages. You can enter your site's URL and view older versions to compare changes over time. 

Open a current version of your website in the browser and compare an older version at web.archive.org if available.

LIMITATIONS

• Incomplete Archives: Not all pages of a website may be archived, especially if they are newer or have restricted access.
• Frequency of Updates: The Wayback Machine may not have the most recent updates if the site is updated frequently.
• Dynamic Content: It may not capture dynamic content such as user-generated content, forms, or interactive elements accurately.

Utilizing available website backups
Use a backup of the website to revert changes and access older content if needed.

LIMITATIONS

• The retention period for backups may vary depending on the specific plan or tool you use for your daily backups. If you host your website with Elevation Web please submit a ticket here requesting the date of backup you wish to access and we can guide you on how to do so.
• This may require more technical knowledge.

Simple History Plugin
Access the history log directly from your WordPress dashboard. This plugin provides detailed logs of changes made to your site, including edits, updates, and user actions. You can find more information about it here.

LIMITATIONS

• Data and activity only gets tracked after installation and will not retroactively recuperate changes
• The free version may not have all the features you need to track activity accordingly