MainWP Roundup: SEO Predictions, WordPress Security Checklist, and Explaining Site Care Value

We have finally reached the last month of the year. You know, the time of holidays, cheer, family, traditions, parties, Grinches and ole Saint Nick? 

It is also the time of the year we start thinking about accomplishments, milestones, year-end reports, memories, and gratitude.

What is your flow at the end of the year? Do you take time off with your family? Do you create year-end reports or blog posts?

In December’s MainWP Roundup, we are going to take a look at one author’s roundup of predictions (more to come later), a security checklist to bookmark, one major acquisition, and an in-depth way to explain your value to customers. 

Ready to ride?

Giddy up.

2025 SEO Trends: Top Predictions from 23 Industry Experts – Moz

Chima Mmeje is an industry leading SEO content writer. In this article she does a massive roundup of predictions in the world of SEO. 

The article is long and there are 22 predictions. You may want to bookmark and go through it later when you have time. 

Read the article.

Three things stood out to me: The use of AI, human centered content, and the use of community.

Naturally, the experts have their thoughts on all three, but they seem to be the future of content and SEO.

Something else that comes up regularly is to diversify content. I agree. 

Notice the overall vibe of the article is a merging of SEO and content. That has been happening for some time. 

The big key here is deciding how this applies to smaller or medium-sized businesses who aren’t B2B SaaS companies. 

What do you think about the future of content and SEO? 

The Last WordPress Security Checklist You’ll Ever Read – Patchstack

Sometimes I need checklists. Do you? If you are like me, you like to make your own, but borrow from one already available.

Read the article.

Patchstack’s Mart Virkus published this checklist earlier this month. 

The purpose, he says,  

“In this guide, we will provide actionable steps to harden your site. We will cover various security tips ranging from basic precautions to advanced techniques. This will address the obvious threats and the subtle vulnerabilities often overlooked.”

Each task on the list is thoroughly explained and gives examples. He includes short code snippets to help.

Additionally, Patchstack gives links to further resources for each task, including resources they themselves have published.

Clearly you can use Patchstack to handle all of these tasks, but they break it down well. They even have a link to their guide for the best security plugins.

Updating your website? What could possibly go wrong?

Gen Herres – WordPress Errors & Their Resolutions

Gen shared this article in a Facebook group as an explanation she gives clients who might do updates for themselves.

Read the article.

She explains the origin of the article:

“This blog post came out of a WordPress meetup that I was recently hosting for the Baltimore WordPress group. One of the participants asked, “What could go wrong?” when we were talking about being careful when running updates. The answer is about the same as what could go wrong with your car? A lot of things, far fewer if use a good mechanic and don’t put off preventative maintenance.”

She starts the article, below the outline, with what she does to mitigate the risk. It’s exhaustive and provides a complex picture to an average business owner.

This section might be the most valuable part of the article.

As web care consultants, we do all these things. Most of these are not listed as featured on our web care services page.

For example, she talks about all the things she does to keep up with ongoing security news in our community.

Then, she continues with common troubleshooting issues and how to solve them, complete with warnings and what can happen.

The article is exhaustive of all the things that can happen. Issues such as the one I saw from a local restaurant that had a simple array error code in the middle of the menu page.

She also addresses privacy and accessibility issues.

Gen does a fantastic job of making the average business owner aware of the value of her service. Do you have an article like this on your website? Podcast? YouTube page?

WPAI Has Been Acquired by Automattic

WPAI, the company behind CodeWP, AgentWP, and WP Chat, has been acquired by Automattic.

Wondering what that means? 

“While CodeWP and AgentWP will be sunset in their current forms, the core technology powering these platforms will be reimagined and integrated into new offerings under the Automattic umbrella. We look forward to sharing more details about these transitions in the coming months.”

Automattic appears poised to integrate WPAI’s products into their ecosystem. This should help WordPress.com better compete with the Wixs and Squarespaces of the world.

If you are in the WordPress.org ecosystem and used their products? I’m not sure what that means for you. 

Congrats to the team at WPAI on the acquisition! 

Wrapping it up

What does the last month look like for you? Are you looking to the future like Chima’s article for SEO? Are you celebrating a win like WPAI? Maybe you are optimizing your processes like Patchstack and Gen Herres. 

Either way, we are almost ready to roll into a new year.