If you ask us, WordPress is hands-down the best hosting platform for bloggers who are serious about growing their audience, monetizing their blogs, and establishing themselves as the next big brand. But, here’s the thing sometimes your WordPress website needs a little TLC to stay optimized and rank high on Google’s first page! Keeping your site “clean” is actually a major search engine optimization (SEO technique) that’s often overlooked.
WordPress is amazing because it lets you customize everything: you can use pre-built themes, upload media files like photos and videos, and even add in all your fonts! This personalization at its core is actually really good for SEO. But, all those elements can sometimes slow your site down and in the world of SEO, a slow site is a BIG no-no because it increases your bounce rate! If you’ve noticed your blog taking forever to load or acting a bit glitchy, it might be time for a cleanup. This blog post is your step-by-step guide to cleaning up your WordPress site to boost your SEO and attract more visitors. Let’s get into it!
How to Clean Up My WordPress
Blogging isn’t just about writing killer content it’s also about keeping your website in tip-top shape. A little technical maintenance goes a long way in making sure your WordPress blog stays healthy. This means cleaning it up regularly to avoid issues like slow page load times, compromised files, security risks, and even duplicate content.
By doing monthly, quarterly, and annual checkups, you can keep your site running smoothly, boost your SEO, and show search engines that your blog is a high-quality trustworthy source. It’s all part of making your blog the best it can be!
What are the Reasons You Need to Clean Up WordPress?
Improved Site Speed
Search engines LOVE a website that loads fast like, blink-and-it’s-there fast. We’re talking one second to load your website! To speed things up, try cleaning up duplicate media and content, optimizing photo files, clearing your cache, and removing unused plugins and themes (but we’ll get into this more later!)
But don’t stop at your desktop version. Did you know that, according to Hubspot, mobile websites are 70.9% slower than their desktop counterparts? Prioritizing loading times for both desktop and mobile versions of your blog is a surefire way to get in Google’s good graces and boost your rankings!
Improve User Experience (UX)
Cleaning up your WordPress site isn’t just good for SEO, it’s a win for your visitors, too! By updating navigation menus and fixing broken links, you’ll make it easier for your readers to explore your amazing content and keep them on your site longer. And here’s the bonus: search engines will take note of your site’s value and trustworthiness, giving you an extra SEO boost. It’s a win-win!
Reduce Crawl Errors
Search engines need to crawl your site efficiently to index its posts and pages, but excessive errors or irrelevant content can slow them down. By tidying up your WordPress fixing 404 errors, removing unnecessary no-index tags, and submitting a clean sitemap you’ll help reduce crawl errors and make it easier for search engines to understand and rank your site. It’s all about making your blog as crawl-friendly as possible!
Eliminate Duplicate Content
Duplicate content on your blog can confuse search engines, waste crawl budget, and even hurt your rankings in search results. It can also lead to a frustrating user experience for your visitors. Removing duplicate content not only improves SEO performance, helping you reach your audience more effectively, but also frees up valuable space on your site.
Boosts Security
Keeping your blog safe from hackers and online threats is an absolute must. Regularly updating and cleaning up the backend of your WordPress ensures that all your plugins and themes are up-to-date and equipped with the latest security settings to keep your site protected. Stay proactive, and your blog will thank you!
How to Clean Up a WordPress Site
Below are three essential methods to clean up your WordPress database and media library and a compromised WordPress site.
How to Clean Up WordPress Database
Step 1: Backup your database.
The first step to cleaning up your WordPress database is to back it up, because better safe than sorry! Install a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus, Solid Backups, or All-in-One WP Migration, and create a full backup of your database and files. This way, if anything goes wrong during the cleanup, you’ll have a safety net to restore your site without a hitch.
Step 2: Remove unnecessary revisions.
Next up, it’s time to clear out those unnecessary post revisions that pile up and bloat your database. A quick and easy way to handle this is by using a plugin like WP-Sweep or WP-Optimize to tidy things up and keep your site running smoothly.
Step 3: Delete unused drafts, spam, and trash.
Head over to your WordPress dashboard to start clearing out unused drafts, spam comments, and anything sitting in your trash folder.
First, navigate to Posts > All Posts and Pages > All Pages to delete any drafts you no longer need and empty your trash folder.
Next, clean up spam comments by going to Comments > Spam and deleting them all. Don’t forget to empty the trash in the comment section for a thorough cleanup! To prevent spam comments in the future, consider installing an anti-spam plugin to identify these types of comments.
Step 4: Optimize database tables.
Over time, WordPress database tables can become fragmented, which slows down queries and affects load speeds. To fix this, you can use plugins like WP-DBManager or Advanced Database Cleaner to optimize your tables quickly and easily.
Prefer the manual route? Log into your cPanel or WordPress hosting panel and head to phpMyAdmin. Select your WordPress database, click Check All Tables, and choose Optimize Table from the dropdown.
Step 5: Delete expired transients.
Transients are temporary cached data that can linger in your WordPress database even after they’ve expired. To clean them up, use plugins like WP-Sweep or Advanced Database Cleaner for a quick and easy fix!
Step 6: Remove unused metadata.
Orphaned metadata, like data left behind from deleted posts or users, can take up valuable space in your database. Use plugins like WP-Optimize or Advanced Database Cleaner to remove orphaned metadata, usermeta, and commentmeta.
Step 7: Clean up unused tags and categories.
Organizing your WordPress sitemap involves using tags and categories for your posts and pages, but unused ones can clutter your database over time. To clean them up, head to Posts > Tags or Posts > Categories in your dashboard and delete any unused items.
Step 8: Remove unused plugins and themes.
Inactive themes and plugins can take up unnecessary space and sometimes leave behind data after deletion. To clean them up, start by deactivating and deleting them in Appearance > Themes or Plugins > Installed Plugins. Then, use a tool like Plugins Garbage Collector to scan for and remove any leftover data for a thorough cleanup. Here’s more on how to delete a WordPress theme.
How to Clean Up WordPress Media Library
Step 1: Backup your website.
Before cleaning up your WordPress media library, make a backup of all your media files and database using plugins like UpdraftPlus or Solid Backup.
Step 2: Audit the media library.
In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Media > Library and switch to the list view for a clearer look at all your media files. Scan for outdated, unused, or duplicate files that you no longer need.
Step 3: Install a media cleaner plugin.
Got unused or duplicate files cluttering up your site? No problem! Plugins like WP-Optimize or Media Cleaner by Meow Apps can scan all your files and spot anything that’s not being used or is duplicated. These tools make it easy to delete unnecessary files, free up space, and give your site a speed boost!
Step 4: Optimize existing media files.
If your blog uses large image files, they might need some optimizing to keep your site running smoothly. Tools like Smush or Imagify can automatically compress and optimize your images without sacrificing quality, making your site faster and more efficient.
Step 5: Bulk delete files.
Manually deleting media files one by one can take forever. Save yourself the hassle and use plugins like Bulk Media Register to quickly fin and remove unattached files. Prefer the manual route? Head to Media > Library, filter by Unattached, and bulk delete them with just a few clicks.
Step 6: Remove orphaned files from the server.
Files that don’t appear in your WordPress media library can still take up valuable space on your server. To clean these up, use a file manager plugin like FileBird or access your hosting’s file manager. Navigate to the wp-content/uploads directory, compare the files on your server with those in your media library, and manually delete any unused files.
How to Clean Up a Compromised WordPress Website
Step 1: Take the website offline.
If your WordPress site has been compromised, the first step is to temporarily take it offline to prevent further damage and protect your visitors. You can do this through your hosting control panel or by using a maintenance mode plugin like WP Maintenance Mode.
Step 2: Backup your site.
First things first back up your website! Use your hosting control panel or a plugin like UpdraftPlus to create a copy of your site. Then, make sure to store it somewhere safe, like a cloud service, so you’re covered no matter what.
Step 3: Identify the hack.
Next up, figure out what’s going on with your site. Whether it’s malware, spam injections, or unauthorized access, identifying the security issue is key. Use security plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri Security, or MalCare to scan your site for anything suspicious. Be on the lookout for unusual files, scripts, or changes in these areas:
- wp-content/themes
- wp-content/plugsin
- .htaccess
- Unknown PHP files in wp-content/uploads
Once you know what you’re dealing with, you’ll be ready to tackle it head-on!
Step 4: Update everything.
Outdated software, such as themes or plugins are like open invitations for hackers. Protect your site by updating everything you’re currently using and deleting any unused themes or plugins.
Step 5: Change all passwords.
To block further unauthorized access to your WordPress site, it’s crucial to update all your passwords with strong, unique combinations. Focus on changing passwords for these key areas:
- WordPress admin accounts
- Database users
- Hosting accounts
- FTP/SFTP accounts
- Email accounts associated with the site
Step 6: Replace core files.
Ensure that no core files, or the foundation of your WordPress, were compromised. Download a fresh copy of WordPress from wordpress.org and replace all core files except the wp-content directly and the wp-config.php file.
Step 7: Check and clean the database.
If your WordPress site has been compromised, there’s a chance malicious code has been injected into your database. To clean it up, access your database through phpMyAdmin or use a database management plugin. Check key tables like wp_posts, wp_options, and wp_users for any suspicious content. Once you’ve identified anything unusual, remove or clean up those entries to secure your site.
Step 8: Scan and remove malicious files.
The next step is eliminating the source of the hack. Use security plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri Security, or Malcare to perform a thorough scan of your site’s files. Once the scan identifies suspicious files, manually delete them to ensure your site is fully protected.
Step 9: Harden your WordPress site.
Once you’ve tackled the hack and wiped out all threats, it’s time to level up your security and keep your blog safe from future attacks. Install a security plugin like iThemes Security or Wordfence, and don’t forget to set up a Web Application Firewall (WAF) for an extra layer of protection. Think of it as putting your blog in a digital fortress it’s all about keeping those hackers out for good!
Keep your WordPress blog running smoothly with the best SEO practices!
Running a successful blog is so much more than just creating amazing content it’s about keeping the technical side in check too! But we get it, you’re busy living your best blogger life. That’s where InfluencerSEO steps in!
With our Blog Tech Support packages, we’ll audit your site, ensure it’s following top SEO practices, and make sure it’s running smoothly to help you rank in those coveted top search results. Curious about how your blog’s SEO is doing right now? Request our free SEO evaluation for a professional audit today, and let’s take your blog to the next level!
Jordan Becerra, founder and Lead SEO Strategist at InfluencerSEO, has spent almost 15 years in the creator internet space, the last nine building InfluencerSEO into the go-to SEO partner for content creators, with 500+ creators served from pre-launch to massive publication. She learned creator monetization and community building strategy from the inside working for Lauryn Bosstick of The Skinny Confidential prior to founding InfluencerSEO, so she understands both halves of the game: how search actually works AND how creators actually build a strong community online and make money. Her job now is to stay ahead of where search engine optimization is going, especially as AI rewrites the rules, and to make sure the creators she works with get there first.
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