Field notes

The Ainygo
blog.

Practical writing on running, fixing, and maintaining WordPress sites — from the team that does it for a living.

Security & Recovery

Your WordPress site is hacked: the 24-hour recovery playbook

A practical 24-hour playbook for recovering a hacked WordPress site, in the order our team actually runs it.

May 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Security & Recovery

Why WordPress sites get hacked — and the 5 fixes every site needs

WordPress runs 43% of the web, which makes it the biggest attack target. The compromise patterns are predictable — and so are the fixes.

Apr 26, 2026 · 5 min read
Security & Recovery

How to clear a Google blacklist warning on a WordPress site

A "deceptive site ahead" warning kills your traffic instantly. The process to get off the blacklist is well-defined; do these steps in order.

Apr 20, 2026 · 4 min read
Security & Recovery

WordPress white screen of death: how to fix it in under 30 minutes

A blank white page where your site used to be looks catastrophic. Almost always, it is one of five things and 30 minutes from fixed.

Apr 14, 2026 · 5 min read
Performance

Why your WordPress site is slow — and the 7 things that actually fix it

Most WordPress speed advice is noise. Here are the seven optimizations that consistently move the needle — in priority order.

Apr 8, 2026 · 6 min read
Performance

Core Web Vitals on WordPress: a practical guide for 2026

LCP, INP, CLS — explained without jargon, with the WordPress-specific fixes that actually move each metric.

Apr 2, 2026 · 5 min read
Performance

The WordPress image pipeline: how to ship images that load fast

Most WordPress sites lose 60-80% of their page weight to badly-served images. Here is the full pipeline we configure on every site we manage.

Mar 27, 2026 · 4 min read
Maintenance

The weekly WordPress maintenance checklist (that most owners skip)

The maintenance work that keeps a WordPress site alive for years is dull, predictable, and usually skipped. Here is the full weekly checklist.

Mar 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Maintenance

How often should you back up a WordPress site? (And where to store backups)

How often to back up depends on how much content you would lose between backups. Where to store them matters even more. Practical answers below.

Mar 15, 2026 · 4 min read
Maintenance

How to update WordPress without breaking the site: a working checklist

Plugin updates break sites about 5% of the time. Theme updates more. Here is the actual checklist for safe updates with a rollback plan.

Mar 9, 2026 · 4 min read
For Agencies

Why agencies stop building WordPress maintenance themselves

Most agencies bolt on WordPress maintenance to retain post-launch clients. The unit economics rarely work — here is the math up close.

Mar 3, 2026 · 5 min read
For Agencies

How to handle plugin update fatigue across a portfolio of client sites

Managing plugin updates across 20+ client sites is a different problem from managing one. Here is the workflow that makes it sustainable.

Feb 25, 2026 · 4 min read