Elena Vasquez
July 28, 2026 · 8 min read
Monthly: speed and script audit
Run Lighthouse on your top five URLs monthly. Track LCP, CLS, and total JavaScript — any sustained regression means a new app or theme change broke something.
Apps are the usual suspect. A new app's script on every page is a classic silent speed killer; audit the script list whenever you install anything.
Monthly: app and integration health
Check that ERP, 3PL, and marketing syncs are passing data correctly — failed syncs are invisible until inventory goes wrong or orders drop. Alert on sync failures, do not check manually.
Review app subscriptions quarterly: remove anything without a measured conversion or operational impact.
Quarterly: security and access review
Audit staff accounts and app permissions. Revoke ex-employee access, demote unnecessary admins, and confirm 2FA is on for every account touching the store.
Review webhook and API token usage — stale integrations are the most common Shopify security gap.
Quarterly: content and SEO hygiene
Check for broken links, 404s, and orphaned redirects. Review search console for crawling errors and page drops. Seasonal content gets updated or pruned.
Broken pages cost rankings and revenue every month they sit there. This is the cheapest maintenance task with the highest return.
Annually: architecture review
Once a year, ask: is the theme still serving the roadmap, are apps still the right tools, is the stack ready for next year's volume? This review prevents the 'we need a replatform' emergency.
Stores that skip this end up doing emergency migrations. Stores that do it every year migrate calmly, on schedule, and keep their rankings.
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