How to clean and optimize your WordPress database

I worked with a customer whose online shop had to struggle for months.

The biggest problem was that customers had left their carts because the pages lasted forever, which led to a bad ROI.

We tested the website to find out what the problem was.

And finally we found that the WordPress database of the website was the culprit. It was filled with years of old data.

It was like trying to run a marathon with a backpack full of bricks; Every step felt difficult and slowly. This experience taught me how critical a lean database is to keep a WordPress site quickly and user-friendly.

After all, the WordPress database is the heart of your website and stores everything from posts and pages to comments and settings.

If it is bloated with unnecessary data, such as old revisions or spam comments, it slows down your website, frustrates the visitors and even harms your SEO ranking.

I saw first -hand how a sluggish website can reject customers, and it’s not a nice sight.

The good news?

You can optimize your WordPress database so that your website is carried out smoothly, and it is easier than you might think.

The optimization of your database is as excited to clean up a crowded desk. The room is released and improves everything.

If you clean the garbage, you improve WordPress’s performance, reduce loading times and keep your visitors satisfied.

Regardless of whether you do a blog, a business or a portfolio, an optimized database saves time and increases the reliability of your website.

Beginners, don’t worry: You don’t have to be a tech assistant to participate and I will take you at every step of the way.

In this article I will pass on practical methods to reduce and optimize your database size based on tools and techniques that I have tested on my projects and client website.

You will learn to clean up your WordPress database safely without risking your content, even if you are new with WordPress.

I will also cover general pitfalls to avoid so that you do not accidentally crash your website. Ready to make your website faster?

Let’s start

Why a large database slows down your WordPress site

As already mentioned, a bloated WordPress database can paralyze the performance of your website, which slowly loaded the sides and frustrated the visitors.

The database is powered by WordPress MySQL and stores the entire content of your website. When it is overloaded, she burdens her server. This can damage the SEO.

But why?

Here are reasons why the WordPress database flows up that the speed of the site slows down and how it affects its website.

• Server trunk: A website database that is packed with garbage such as old revisions or spam comments forces your server to work harder. The server that supplies your site takes longer to access data from a bloated WordPress MySQL system and delay the page. This burden can feel your website sluggish, especially with traffic spikes.
• Bad user experience: Visitors become impatient and, when the database inflated, slow down the page. This can push away users, especially on mobile devices on which faster access is expected. Visitor loss means fewer readers, customers or subscribers to your website.
• SEO ranking: Search engines like Google prefer fast websites, and a database bloating harms your WordPress site speed and reduces your SEO ranking. A slow site struggles with the competition because search engines prioritize pages that are quickly loaded for users.
• Mobile performance problems: Mobile users who make up most of the website require instant side loads, but a heavy MySQL database causes delays. This makes mobile surfing sluggishly and reduces engagement and conversions.

Now that you are important to optimize your database, we first look at how you create a database protection.

How to secure your database before optimization

Before cleaning your WordPress database, create a fuse to avoid errors and protect your content. This saves time and prevents data loss. This also creates the prerequisites for safe optimization.

Against this background, I will lead you through two beginners-friendly methods.

• Handbook WordPress Export database via CPANEL
• Automated securing the WordPress database with a plugin (Duplicator Pro)

In this way you can secure your site database using the most convenient method.

Handbook WordPress database securing

Manual database locks are a practical option for smaller websites. Since the database size is normally low, the export process is faster and less likely to timeouts, especially when using shared hosting.

With manual backups, you do not risk breaking your website because you are only in writing, but you require careful handling.

For example, missing tables or incorrect settings can lead to incomplete fuses. For this reason, this method is best suited for the comfortable navigation of PHPMYADMIN or CPANEL.

Let me guide me step by step through this process.

So what should you do?

We will use this CPANEL tool to manually save your WordPress database as a file.

First go to Websites »Settings.

Then select phpmyadmin To access your WordPress export tools.

In “PHPMYADMIN”, look for your WordPress database from the left sidebar. Then select it to open all tables such as contributions and comments that are ready for export.

Then scroll to the end of the page and select “Check everyone”. Click the WordPress database on the export Tab above on phpmyadmin.

Select the out on the next screen Fast Export method and SQL format and then select export So download a .SQL file to your computer.

That’s it! You can now manually secure your site database.

Remember to save this file safely. I suggest that you use a cloud memory, apart from your local drive for an additional protective level.

Automated database protection with Duplicator Pro

As you can see above, the manual process of securing a database for beginners can be somewhat overwhelming.

Next I will guide you through the use Duplicator Pro to secure your database.

First you have to make sure that Duplicator is installed and ready. To get started, go to Official duplocator per site And select a plan and buy.

There is also one Free duplicator plugin You can access what can also help you secure your database. However, you cannot be able to create planned backups, which is very important for the optimization of your website.

If you deal with problems, check this tutorial to set up this plugin.

Further information on setting up and using the different functions can be found in this updated duplicator pro rating.

As soon as the backup plugin is installed and activated, select now Duplicator Pro »Backups.

Then press “Add new” on the next screen.

After that, call your fuse to remind it easier to remember the next screen.

With Duplicator Pro, you can now save your backup on your PC on your PC by default. You can also add cloud storage for additional security. You can add Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and many more.

For this tutorial, however, we will use the standard local storage.

This gives you the option of creating a complete website, only media, only a database or custom site.

We will choose Only database. Then press “Next” and have Duplicator Pro search your website.

Once finished, beat Create backupAnd give it a few minutes to make it.

That’s it! You can now create a database protection with Duplicator Pro. Take a look at this post if you want to create a complete backup site -backup.

Let me show you with everything you can optimize your database.

How to optimize your WordPress database

Now I will do it to manually optimize your WordPress database and use a plugin. In this way you can select a method that is best suited for you.

Optimize the WordPress database manually

In this tutorial, I will guide you by optimizing your WordPress database with CPANEL.

I use BlueHost for this tutorial, but don’t worry if you are on another host. Most providers offer similar tools or plugins for database expectations.

Some hosts such as sitround contain integrated tools such as the Speed ​​Optimizer Plugin, which automates this process. For consistency on all hosting platforms, however, we focus on the manual method with CPANEL.

Remember that the exact appearance of CPANEL can vary from one host to another, but the steps and functions are usually the same.

So what should you do?

Step 1: Optimize WordPress tables

First register with your hosting account.

Then select Website In the left menu option as above. Here you can see a list of all your websites in the account.

So go to the website you want to optimize and click on “Settings”. In the next screen, select the phpmyadmin Tab to open a list of all databases.

Select your WordPress database from the left sidebar to open all tables. Then scroll to the end of the page and select “Check everyone”.

Then go to the dropdown menu with options such as analyzing table, table, repair table and much more.

Then choose Optimize the table And let it run.

As soon as you are finished, you should have a message like: “Your SQL query has been successfully executed.

You will also receive a list of all mistakes that the optimization process has recorded so that you can analyze and correct.

That’s it! You can now successfully optimize your WordPress database manually.

This process ensures that your WordPress database is slimmer and enables faster data acceptance and better performance on the website. Your website should also load faster and handle traffic better.

Set a monthly calendar reminder to repeat this WordPress database process process to ensure that you are always mentioned at the top.

Step 2: Remove postal and side revisions

Select a post or page in your WordPress dashboard and find it Revision Section in the publisher. All your post -revisions are saved here.

To delete them, we can use a plugin that you will be passed through later in this post. But first, let me show you how to do it manually.

To do this, use the steps mentioned above to access your database phpmyadmin.

As soon as you have selected your database, click the SQL tab on the top. Then add the following snippet in the Code editor:

DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type="revision";

Finally, select “Go” at the end of the page and you’re done.

Now return to yours Post »revisions And confirm whether the process was successful.

That’s it! You can now manually delete all Post revisions from your database.

Step 3: Delete car troops

To do this, go to Contributions »All contributions Filter in your WordPress dashboard for designs and delete automatic distances. This includes unnamed, system -generated contributions. Do this by moving and emptying them in the trash.

This reduces WordPress database without influencing the active content.

Step 4: Delete destroyed contributions and pages

Next they navigate too Contributions »garbage In your dashboard. Then check whether there is no active content and select Empty garbage Delete permanently beveled objects.

This also deletes drafts and automatic disappointments, which they move to the garbage container.

Step 5: Delete Spam comments

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Comments »SpamConfirm that the comments are not legitimate and click on empty spam to remove them.

Well done! If your database is now prepared, you are ready to optimize safely.

Next, let’s examine how you can optimize your database with a plugin.

How to optimize your WordPress database with a plugin

By using a free optimization plugin such as WP optimize, WordPress cleaning database tasks is also automatically automated for beginners by automating unnecessary data from your WordPress database.

I cut the database size of a client with WP optimize by 30% and strengthened the speed of the website without manual effort.

The use of WP optimization to clean up everything covers everything we have done manually. This includes revisions, spam comments, automatic disappointments, garbage items and WordPress transient cleaning.

First install WP optimize by navigating and adding to plugins in your WordPress dashboard. Search for WP optimize, select the installation now and then activate it to set up this tool.

Grab next database Tab in your WordPress dashboard.

This section shows options for cleaning your WordPress database, including revisions, comments and transients, which makes cleaning straightforward.

So all you have to do is select the cleaning options you need by checking the boxes next to each article. Make sure you check each option to avoid deleting active content.

After selecting your options, select “Execute all selected optimizations” to start the cleaning process.

WP optimize remove the selected data from your WordPress database and indicates a summary of the deletion, such as the number of deleted revisions or transients.

That’s it! You can now use WP optimize to optimize your database without visiting your CPANEL. This is an effective and simple solution for beginners.

You can clean your database more than with this optimization plugin.

You can optimize images, cache, minifik and more. To access all functions, you need a Pro version. To optimize your database, the free version works perfectly.

Now that you know how to optimize your database, we should take a look at some frequent mistakes that many people make.

Common mistakes that you should avoid when optimizing your database

Optimizing your WordPress database can change the speed of your website, but simple errors can lead to lost data or a broken site.

I made some of these database optimization errors in customer projects and learned hard lessons that I will share to avoid them.

• Skip backups: Skipping a backup before optimization is a recipe for a disaster, since each error can wipe out your WordPress database. Always secure your WordPress database with tools like Duplicator Pro or PHPMyAdmin.
• Delete critical data: Shipping to remove active content such as live contributions or comments is a common mistake with the WordPress database optimization. Check what you delete by checking the garbage or displaying the elements in your dashboard.
• Ignoring plugin conflicts: The use of several optimization plugins can lead to conflicts, turn off your website or damage your WordPress database. Test a plugin, such as WP optimization, and temporarily deactivate others to avoid WordPress database errors and keep your website stable.
• Over -optimized: Executing WordPress cleaning database tasks too often, such as daily clean-up work, can slow down your website by revising the server. Plan cleaning up once a month to compensate for the performance and avoid errors with WordPress database -optimization errors.
• Abuse of phpmyadmin: Selecting the wrong tables in PHPMyAdmin can interfere with your website or non -related databases on the same server. Check your WordPress database name in PHPMYADMIN, starting with “WP_” and double review names to avoid errors during manual optimization.

You keep your website quickly and safely by avoiding this WordPress database optimization error.

Tools and plugins to optimize your database

Cleaning your WordPress database does not have to be complicated, especially for plugins that simplify the cleaning process.

As you have seen above, WP optimize is much easier than manual methods such as phpmyadmin.

• WP optimization: As already mentioned, WP optimize is a top election for the WordPress cleaning database and offers a free version that deletes revisions, spam comments and transients with a few clicks.
• WP rocket: WP Rocket is a powerful premium plugin with which you can clean up your database by automatically removing transients that are temporary data that clogs your database.
• Contact form 7 database -Addon: The contact form 7 -Database -Addon manages the form submissions to prevent database bubbles, which is ideal for websites with severe form activity.

You can find a more extensive list in this article on the best database tools to clean up and optimize your website.

With these tools you can optimize your WordPress database, regardless of whether you prefer simplicity or manual control.

Congratulations! You can now completely optimize your WordPress database both manually and a plugin. If something is not clear, read the frequently asked questions below.

FAQs: How to reduce the WordPress database size for better performance

Conclusion conclusion

If you keep your WordPress database slim, the performance of your website is transformed and delivers faster loading times, happier visitors and better search engine rankings.

Faster loading times mean that your pages appear almost immediately, so that users are surfing on mobile devices or desktop.

In addition, a Lean WordPress database reduces the server expansion and ensures that your website takes over the traffic spike smoothly. This makes a big difference for busy blogs and shops.

With this step-by-step instructions you can create a polished and professional website, to promote visits to return and better SEO rankings.

If you would like to further optimize your website, you will find a contribution to removing unused files from your WordPress Media Library.

You will also find other articles here in which you are interested in reading.

These articles help you to optimize your WordPress database and your website. You also get to know the best tools you can use.