Make the WordPress database lean and fit to respond faster to queries and load pages quickly
Optimized databases pave the road for 90+ website speed
I tune the database performance to the point it yields a fast system response time. The positive effects of the SQL optimization can be seen immediately, the site renders the pages more quickly, the overall performance and usability is improved, and the speed score is higher.
Not simply a query optimization
When I talk about database tuning I don't mean or suggest using a plugin to do it. It could be detrimental to your database health. Most of the WP plugins conduct a rather superficial database sweep, fail to meet the critical pointers, and may break the database or the website content. What I do instead, is a deep-dive into the database that has qualitative characteristics missing from what any plugin will produce.It's not about a basic PHPMyAdmin optimization either, where you select all the tables and click on the optimize menu option and the script does its job. I'm talking about a deep dive into the database system and an SQL query optimization. This technique takes hours to complete and it requires a specific skillset to avoid destroying the database and take the website out of business. Read below the actions taken.
I'm a website optimizer and I know that in database optimization projects, the fellow optimizers won't spend some quality time tuning the database. They might just use a plugin, and that's it, no SQL optimization. Since I have personal experience on how this type of work can positively impact the speed, I have included database optimization tuningas a mandatory item in my speed optimization protocol.
What the job entails
- Some plugins will always leave their tables and other stuff no matter what you do, as their developers build them this way without minding your database health. I will remove the clutter from the database that plugins leave behind when removed.
- Create indexes and help the database respond faster to queries.
- Rationalize the items that autoload.
- Enable the MySQL Server caching in alignment with the hosting if you don't have root access to the server.
- I clean up the Woocommerce clutter.
- I reduce calls to the database from the website theme and plugins.
- SQL server tuning
The Results
After spending hours working on the database, the metrics show that the database queries take fewer seconds as the table rows are optimized, the pages load faster, the website speed is considerably higher, the User Experience has improved a lot.