How to Clean up Your WordPress Database? Operating a WordPress site consists of many tasks! One of the main overlooked and crucial tasks is maintaining WordPress database. People most think that MySQL database is important aspect of WordPress installation and forget conveniently about the same.
It is essential to manage website database in WordPress. Database needs daily optimization and clean up to work properly. It helps in maximizing the website speed and reduces bounce rates. Few seconds of delay in loading time can maximize bounce rate and leave a bad experience for users.
There are several tasks that people do like as using Caching plugin, Resorting to CDN and compressing images. It also helps in managing your online business appropriately.
Elements of a WordPress Database:-
Are you a newbie to WordPress? IF yes, then you might think database is just a small part of your website. All things available in WordPress and browser backend are simple gateways. That’s where the root of website resides. WordPress consists of media files, styles, content and all other things that make it looks appealing to the visitors. Even the content is available in raw forms i.e. pages, posts, comments and other aspects are available inside database.
Currently, A WordPress website database comprise of 11 tables. If you have installed any new plugin then database may have more tables. Some of the core WordPress database tables are:
- wp_comments, It consists all the website comments.
- wp_option consist of option sets inside admin settings.
- wp_users has the list of users who registered on the website.
- wp_posts comprises navigation menu, pages and posts.
Why WordPress Database needs cleaning?
Is your website live and online for some time? If yes, then there are chances that database has gathered abundant data. Spam comments, post revisions, drafts and plugins increase its sizes fast. Large database can impact website loading speed. Bigger database can impact server time to locate and draw data from it which is not fine for site performance.
Also, when the database is quite large, backup process may also takes longer. Many hosting providers offer a restricted web space. Hence if you need to occupy a reasonable database then you have to pay for it.
What does a Database Clean UP Process Comprise of?
A website cleanup and optimization process may involves eliminating redundant data. This information is not necessary to run your WordPress site and usually are that excess space and make your website slower. Some crucial things of clean-up process are:
- Eliminating overhead:- It is an important part of database clean-up which we call optimization. It is mainly new-age name that shows the temporary disk space that database use. When you don’t cleanup periodically, the size of database maximizes over time.
- Minimize Data Bloat:- It may involves arranging obsolete data. Based on WordPress configuration, CMS collect enough data that isn’t needed for daily functions. These comprise of:
- Post revisions
- Spam comments
- Deleted posts & pages
- Remaining plugins & themes
All these aspects get stored in database and occupy a vital space. And its essential to remove the obsolete database weight.
Optimizing WordPress Database Through Plugins:-
- WP-Optimize:- This plugin has 1.5 million downloads and one of best optimization plugin in WordPress industry. It is beneficial to ensure that your website database is clean and secure. It looks great If you just made a single click and your wordpress database get optimized.
If you are searching for redundant data then this plugin might help you to provide perspective about tables.
- WP Clean UP Optimizer:- Another recommended plugin for improving database performance is WP cleanup optimizer. With table optimization, it also eliminates old & isolated data and helps in repairing database. You can purchase a pro-version of it for adding some extra features like auto-scheduling.