WordPress Plugin Directory Gets a Facelift, Needs a Bit More This week, the WordPress plugin directory got a visual update “to standardize the site’s layout, fonts, spacing, and colors with other newly updated sections of WordPress.org.” * The changes look really good, in my opinion – the design team did an excellent job. But what I’d much rather see is an improvement to the poor quality of plugin search results. * For the last 10 years, I’ve done a monthly Plugin Roundup on Solid Academy (formerly iThemes Training). As I prepare each month, I find it harder and harder to locate plugins with the search tool. * Searching for a plugin, even by exact name, often doesn’t return the result you’re looking for in the top listings. * Popular plugins take precedence and others keyword-stuff their titles to gain rankings. * I’m grateful for the work that went into the new design. Could we do some work on the search algorithm, too? * What do you think about the quality of search results in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory?*

ChatGPT Gets Personal: How the Memory Update Enhances AI Conversations* ChatGPT’s new Memory feature allows it to remember personal details shared in conversations, enhancing its ability to provide context-rich answers. * Memory is enabled automatically but you can opt out, or control what it remembers in Settings under Personalization. * You can add facts to ChatGPT’s Memory directly by chatting with the bot or using specific prompts. * Memories can be removed individually or cleared entirely through the Settings or by request in a chat. * If you share a ChatGPT account with other team members in your Agency, you may want to turn off Memory to avoid mixing details about each user.

Should You Worry About Medium-Severity WordPress Vulnerabilities? If you manage websites in your Agency like I do, you’re likely very familiar with the growing number of email notices about plugin vulnerabilities that hit your inbox. * In 2023, around 67% of these vulnerabilities were classified as medium-level severity. But what does that mean? * The severity level is determined using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS Scores) based on a scale of 1-10. * Medium-level vulnerabilities are either difficult to exploit or provide limited benefits to attackers upon successful exploitation, so they are less likely to be used in large-scale attacks. * Many medium-severity vulnerabilities require contributor-level access, which many WordPress sites do not offer, making them less concerning for the majority of site owners. * While we should still update vulnerable extensions as soon as possible, there is not as much urgency at the medium-level as there is with high-severity vulnerabilities.* * If you’re managing WordPress sites, it’s still as important as ever to stay informed about vulnerabilities, and implement proactive security measures at the network, server, and WordPress level. * Read more in this SearchEngineJournal article.

Worth a Look* Google’s John Mueller explains what to do if your website gets de-indexed after a migration. * We know WordPress backups are critical. Here’s Patchstack’s list of the top backup plugins from a security perspective. They have a list of form plugins too. * Look at this in-depth comparison of the 15 fastest WordPress hosting providers with some surprising results.

This article, Business Roundup Week Ending May 3, was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.