DEV Community: Dirga Raj Lama

Don’t Allow Your WordPress DB Performance Issues to Sabotage Your Page Speed

Dirga Raj Lama — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:05:58 +0000

In discussions around web performance optimization, the first things that come to mind are image optimization, minification, and edge caching. All good practices, but on a dynamic site or a high traffic one, the biggest hurdle to performance actually comes much closer to home - a cluttered database.

Whenever a page is loaded, WordPress needs to do several queries to get options, content, and data from your database. Should your database be cluttered with digital dust from many years ago, your Time to First Byte (TTFB) will be slow no matter how fast your CDN is.

Here are three database-level optimizations you should make today:

1. Putting Post Revisions on a Tighter Leash

By default, WordPress keeps every one of your revisions stored indefinitely. A 50-paragraph piece could easily end up filling 100 rows in the wp_posts table.
Control this by putting a line in your wp-config.php:
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 ); // Limits revisions to 5 per post

Nuking Expired Transients
Transients are a great way to cache API calls or heavy query results in the database. But once they expire, WordPress doesn't always clean them up automatically. Over time, millions of orphaned rows can collect in your wp_options table. Use a CLI command or a clean-up query to purge expired transients routinely.
Cleaning the wp_commentmeta and wp_usermeta Tables
If you use plugins that track user behavior, store session tokens, or handle spam comments, these tables balloon quickly. Always ensure metadata is deleted when the parent comment or user is removed.

Database hygiene is just one piece of the puzzle, though. If you want a complete, step-by-step breakdown covering asset optimization, advanced caching strategies, and script management, check out the full guide:

🔗 Read the complete deep-dive: Comprehensive Guide to WordPress Performance Optimization

Let's discuss: What's your go-to hidden trick for squeezing a sub-100ms TTFB out of a legacy WordPress site? Drop your favorite optimization strategies below!

How to Deploy a MERN App for Free in 2026

Dirga Raj Lama — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 15:51:46 +0000

🚀 I've just posted a comprehensive guide on setting up a free MERN application in 2026!

Are you having trouble setting up your MERN app without any cost? Then this guide is what you need to get started with deployment using all the free services.

Best for beginners, portfolio projects, and indie developers 👨‍💻

Read here: https://lamadirga.com.np/how-to-deploy-a-mern-app-for-free-in-2026/

webdev #mern #react #nodejs #mongodb #javascript #opensource #beginners

How I cut WooCommerce load times by 70% (A 2026 Case Study)

Dirga Raj Lama — Tue, 12 May 2026 11:01:02 +0000

Is your high-traffic online shop frustrating customers and costing you sales?

A sluggish website in the competitive world of e-commerce is not just an inconvenience; it is a critical business failure. Recently, I worked with a client, “Himalayan Threads,” whose store took an average of 7.5 seconds to load. Their cart abandonment rate was over 60%.

After a month of optimization, we brought that down to 1.8 seconds. Here is the exact technical checklist I used to fix their slow WooCommerce store.

Original post: How to Fix a Slow WooCommerce Store