Are you wondering if there is a difference between coming soon and maintenance modes?
The answer is: Yes. They are both used for different purposes and search engines treat coming soon mode differently from maintenance mode.
In this article, we’ll explain the difference between coming soon vs maintenance mode so that you can choose the best option for your needs.
What is Coming Soon Mode vs. Maintenance Mode, and Why Does It Matter?
Coming soon mode is used when your website has not yet been launched. Maintenance mode is used when your website is temporarily offline for maintenance.
It’s easy to get these 2 modes confused. Several WordPress plugins such as SeedProd let you put your site into either coming soon mode or maintenance mode. You may not be sure about the difference.
It’s extremely important to use each mode correctly, because if you choose the wrong option, then it can harm your WordPress site’s SEO rankings.
When to Use a Coming Soon Page
You should use a coming soon page after registering a domain name but before you have finished creating your website.
A coming soon page lets you generate buzz about your upcoming site before launching it. Plus, it allows Google to start sending you visitors.
It’s best practice to have an email newsletter signup form on your coming soon page. This allows people to get an email when your site goes live, and also helps you to get a head start on building an email list.
SeedProd lets you create great-looking coming soon pages with just a few clicks. It’s the best landing page builder for WordPress and with its drag and drop builder, you can easily create coming soon and maintenance mode pages for your website.
Let’s take a look at how to create a coming soon page in WordPress.
How to Create a Coming Soon Page
To create a coming soon page, you first need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
We’re using the SeedProd Pro version for our tutorial because it offers more customization features and templates, but you can also use the free version of SeedProd.
Upon activation, you should be prompted for your license key. You will find this in your account area on the SeedProd website. Simply enter the key and click the ‘Verify Key’ button:
After that, you can go to SeedProd » Landing Pages from your WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Set up a Coming Soon’ button.
Then, simply pick a template for your coming soon page. There are over 150 different templates to choose from.
All you have to do is hover over a template and click the orange tick mark button.
You will now be taken to SeedProd’s drag and drop page builder.
Go ahead and change anything you want using the blocks given in the left-hand sidebar.
For instance, you can drag and drop standard blocks for text and images, or choose Advanced blocks to add a countdown timer, contact form, icons, and more.
Besides that, there are options to change the font, background image, text and color of the button, and more.
If you would like to integrate your coming soon form with your email marketing service, then simply go to the ‘Connect’ tab at the top and select your email marketing service.
You then need to follow the on-screen instructions to connect your coming soon page with your email service.
Once you’re happy with your coming soon page’s design, head over to the ‘Page Settings’ tab at the top. After that, click on the Page Status toggle and switch the status from Draft to Publish.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top and then exit the landing page builder.
Next, you’ll need to go to SeedProd » Landing Pages from your WordPress dashboard and click the toggle under the Coming Soon Mode to make your page ‘Active.’
Your coming soon page is now live. To view it, log out of your website and visit any page.
When to Use Maintenance Mode
You can use maintenance mode if you need to briefly take your site offline for changes or updates.
For instance, you might want to use maintenance mode while changing WordPress themes. This ensures that your site functions correctly and looks good with the new theme.
Another good time to use maintenance mode is to add an online store to your site. You can leave your website online but put your store into maintenance mode.
Maintenance mode lets search engines know that your site is currently down. It does this by returning the header code 503. That way, your site’s SEO won’t be affected by downtime.
It’s good practice to let users know that your site will be back soon, too. You can do this by putting a message on your maintenance page. You might want to add an email form so they can get an email alert once your site is back up.
Tip: When you update plugins, themes, or core WordPress, your site will automatically go into maintenance mode for a few seconds. If your site gets stuck in this mode, we have instructions on fixing the WordPress maintenance mode error.
How to Put Your Site in Maintenance Mode
To put your site in maintenance mode, you’ll need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. You can follow our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for more details.
Upon activation, you can head over to SeedProd » Landing Pages from your WordPress admin panel and then click the ‘Set up a Maintenance Mode Page’ button.
Next, you can select a template for your maintenance mode page.
SeedProd offers numerous templates to get started.
After that, you can customize the page in the SeedProd landing page builder.
Simply drag and drop blocks that you want to add to the template and edit the text, font, size, layout, color, and more.
You can now add an email marketing service under the ‘Connect’ tab.
Simply choose a service and follow the on-screen instructions to set it up.
Next, head over to the ‘Page Settings’ tab.
Simply click the Page Status toggle to Publish your maintenance mode page.
Once that’s done, go ahead and click the ‘Save’ button and exit the page builder.
When you are ready to put your site into maintenance mode, simply go to the SeedProd » Landing Pages in your WordPress admin area and then make the maintenance mode page ‘Active.’
Remember, maintenance mode should only be used when your site is down for maintenance. If you have not yet launched your site, use coming soon mode instead.
We hope this article helped you understand how to choose coming soon vs. maintenance mode. You may also want to check out our guide on the must have WordPress plugins for your website and our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.
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Lorenzo says
Maintenance mode does it arms SEO for longer periods? I mean if you make a quick change, it won’t hurt your website but what if you have problems and you need to keep the website in maintenance for some days. After how many days a website will be penalized?
WPBeginner Support says
There is no specific time limit on when it would negatively affect your site but it is best to keep maintenance as short as possible to prevent any issues.
Admin