Many web hosts heavily utilize automation (and now, also AI models) to keep websites running and regularly updated.
This is all well and good—until something goes wrong and there’s no human at the helm to do a course correction. (The Funko Pop’s brand learned this the hard way.)
The good news is that if you host your website with us and WP Engine, we combine automation and AI with real-deal humans. 🙌
What do machines offer in web hosting?
1. Automations that save time and $
WP Engine leverages automation as much as possible (and as appropriate) to make sure your site remains in the best shape of its life.
For example:
- WP Engine uses EverCache®, their proprietary, enterprise-grade caching system for WordPress, to load e-commerce sites super fast.
- They also implement automated updates to PHP & MySQL, which helps keep your site updated and secure.
- Reporting is also made available on Google Core Web Vitals directly within the user portal.
2. AI that makes your site smarter
WP Engine’s AI Toolkit offers a suite of tools for app creation and improved search.
- The toolkit’s Smart Search AI MCP Server is a powerful feature that transforms WordPress sites into dynamic, real-time knowledge bases for any Large Language Model (LLM) connected to it.
- Even though this toolkit is only available to Core and Enterprise accounts, we still think it’s pretty slick!
Additionally, CodeGeek just recently introduced our AI Optimization Plans.
- These plans offer strategic steps to help make your site more searchable and found by AI.
- While these plans are separate from our hosting plan, now’s a great time to pair the two for a winning combo of human + machine performance improvements.
What do humans take care of in web hosting?
Even in this day and age of advanced tech, our team still remains heavily involved and invested in the health of your website.
- Before anything happens to your site, we always run a backup.
- Only after that’s done do we tell the machines to run updates and other routine activities.
- After the updates are made, we step back in to check the machine’s work and make sure it’s all done to our high standards through a variety of testing methods.
- And if something is amiss? We roll everything back and develop a plan to troubleshoot and fix it. ✅
Humans + machines can make a great team.
At the end of the day, stellar hosting isn’t about choosing humans or machines—it’s about leveraging each to get the best results.
With smart automation and AI + a real human team keeping an eye on things, you can know your site is getting the best of both worlds.
Automation without humans is a mistake. Humans must be integral to any [AI] process.
Allisa James, Techradar
Featured image credit: Katja Anokhina on Unsplash