Over time a WordPress database collects things it no longer needs: trashed posts, spam comments, expired temporary data, unused tags and leftovers from plugins you've stopped using. A leaner database is quicker for WordPress to search, which helps your pages load faster.
You can do most of the tidying from your WordPress dashboard:
- Empty the trash. Under Posts and Pages, open Trash and choose Empty Trash.
- Clear out comments. Under Comments, empty Spam and Trash.
- Delete plugins and themes you don't use. A deactivated plugin or theme keeps its data in the database, so delete it if you won't use it again. Do this from Plugins and Appearance → Themes.
- Remove unused tags. Under Posts → Tags, sort by Count and delete tags that aren't used by any post.
Some things can't be removed from the dashboard, such as old post revisions and database tables that a deleted plugin left behind. If your site has grown large or slow and you'd like this cleaned up, contact support and we'll take a look.
Before a big clean-up, make a note of the date and time. Your daily backups mean we can restore your site to an earlier point if something important is removed by mistake.