If you have a WordPress database with a large number of posts (40,000 in your case) and you want to optimize its performance, there are several steps you can take to speed up your database and improve overall site performance. Here are some recommendations:
1. Use a caching plugin:
Install and configure a caching plugin like WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache. These plugins generate static HTML files of your pages, reducing the need to query the database for every request.
2. Optimize your database tables:
Use a plugin like WP-Optimize or WP-Sweep to clean up and optimize your database tables. These plugins can remove unnecessary data, optimize table structures, and improve database performance.
3. Enable database query caching:(object caching.)
WordPress uses a database query caching mechanism called object caching. By enabling a plugin like Redis Object Cache or Memcached, you can store database query results in memory, reducing the need to query the database repeatedly.
4. Optimize images:
Large images can significantly slow down your website. Resize and compress your images before uploading them to WordPress. You can use plugins like Smush or EWWW Image Optimizer to automatically optimize your images.
5### . Limit the number of revisions:
By default, WordPress stores multiple revisions of each post, which can bloat your database. Limit the number of revisions by adding the following line to your wp-config.php file: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5);
This will keep a maximum of 5 revisions per post.
6. Clean up unused plugins and themes:
Remove any unnecessary plugins and themes from your WordPress installation. Unused plugins and themes can still consume server resources, affecting overall performance.
7. Utilize a content delivery network (CDN):
A CDN caches your website’s static content and serves it from servers located around the world, reducing the load on your hosting server and improving page load times. Popular CDN services include Cloudflare, MaxCDN, and Akamai.
8. Upgrade your hosting plan:
If you’re on a shared hosting plan, consider upgrading to a more powerful hosting solution like a virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated server. These options provide more resources and can handle larger databases more efficiently.
9. Consider database sharding:
If your database continues to experience performance issues, you might want to explore database sharding, which involves splitting your database into smaller, manageable parts. This can distribute the load across multiple servers and improve performance.
It’s important to back up your database before making any changes and test the impact of each optimization step to ensure compatibility with your site and plugins.
The feature will perform the following maintenance tasks once per week:
- Perform Database Optimization for MyISAM tables
- Delete all automatically created post and page drafts
- Delete all page and post revisions
- Delete all posts and pages in your Trash
- Delete all comments marked as Spam
- Delete all expired Transients
Create a backup
Site Tools > Site → MySQL > PHPMyAdmin – Access . From the tool, select your database from the menu on the left and click Export > Go .
Check which are the largest database tables
To check the largest database tables, navigate to the PHPMyAdmin tool, select the respective database from the menu on the left and click on the Size button at the top. The database tables will be sorted by size.
This information may be helpful to determine if the table is part of the core WordPress database tables or it is added to your website by a plugin that you are using.
The “Meta” database tables
These types of tables contain additional fields that are required by your main database tables. Usually, these fields are added by plugins. The so-called “meta” database tables are the following:
wp_postmeta
wp_commentmeta
wp_usermeta
wp_termmeta
Under certain circumstances, some information may remain in these database tables although it is no longer required. This can lead to the growth of the database and it is safe to delete such information as it is not used by any of the posts, comments, users or terms.
There are some other database tables that may contain information that your website doesn’t really need. Such tables are:
wp_term_relationships
Similar to the “meta” tables, the wp_term_relationships table can also contain information that is no longer needed. It is recommended to delete this information.
wp_comments
The easiest way to clear these database tables is via a third-party plugin. There are plenty of free plugins that can get the job done like Advanced Database Cleaner or WP-Optimize.
The issue is with another database table
In case the largest table is not part of the WordPress core tables, it is most likely associated with some of the website’s plugins.
To verify which plugin is associated with a particular table, check the Internet for relevant information by searching for the respective database table name.
When you find the plugin that creates and manages the table, you can contact the plugin’s support for further information and assistance.
What should I do if there are problems with my website after a database optimization?
Always check your website for potential problems after applying changes to its database or after installing/removing various plugins or modules. If you notice anything not working properly, you could restore the website to the state prior to the performed actions from the backup that you already have created.