This report identifies exactly which database queries are costing your site time, ranks them by actual impact, and tells you what’s causing each one — rather than the vague sense that “the database feels slow” with nothing specific to point at.
What this catches that a general speed test doesn’t
A page speed tool measures the end result — total load time — without telling you which specific query inside that total is responsible. This works the other way around: it profiles queries directly, so you get a named cause rather than a single aggregate number to interpret yourself.
It’s also useful even if you already suspect the database generally, since “probably the database” and “specifically this one query on this one template” lead to very different next steps, and only one of them tells you what to actually fix.
The findings also age reasonably well. Unless your traffic or catalogue changes dramatically, a query that’s expensive today is likely to still be the one worth fixing in six months, which makes this a useful reference even if you don’t act on it immediately. It’s also a document worth keeping alongside the site’s own records, since a future developer inheriting the site benefits from knowing this was already checked, and when, rather than starting the same investigation from nothing months or years later.
We also make a point of naming what’s genuinely fine, not just what’s slow, since a report that only lists problems can make a site sound worse off than it is. Confirming what’s already performing perfectly acceptably is part of giving you an accurate, honest picture of the whole database rather than a longer list assembled just to look thorough.
Database query performance audit
You want to know exactly which database queries are costing your site time, ranked by impact, rather than a vague sense that the database is slow.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- Database access, or hosting access that includes it
- The pages or admin screens where slowness is most noticeable, if you’ve noticed a pattern
- Roughly how large your site is — post count, order count, if applicable
- Whether you want the report only, or a quote for fixing what’s found included
This or something else?
| You want specific slow queries identified and ranked | This fix covers it |
| You already know it’s a missing index | Database index optimization for slow queries |
| General database size the concern, not query speed | Database size audit & reduction report |
| General site slowness, cause unclear | Slow site diagnostic report |
| Admin specifically slow | Slow admin dashboard fix |
What we do
- Enable query profiling and capture real queries across key pages and admin screens
- Rank queries by actual time cost, not just by how many run
- Identify the plugin, theme, or core process responsible for each significant query
- Check whether missing indexes, inefficient queries, or excessive volume is the pattern
- Note which findings need their own separate fix and roughly what kind
- Deliver findings in plain language with a clear priority order
What is included
- Specific slow queries identified, ranked, and attributed to their source
- A clear distinction between missing-index problems and genuinely inefficient queries
- Recommendations prioritised by actual time cost
- A written report you can act on yourself or bring back to us
Not included
- Applying index or query fixes, which is quoted separately based on findings
- Ongoing query monitoring
- Auditing custom application logic beyond WordPress’s own database interactions
- A guarantee of a specific improvement figure before the fix is applied
Questions about this fix
How is this different from the general database size audit?
That one measures how much space your data takes up. This measures how long your queries take to run — a database can be a reasonable size and still run slow queries, or be large and query efficiently. They're different problems.
Do you need production access, or can this run on staging?
Production is more accurate, since query patterns depend on real data volume and real traffic, but a recent staging copy with representative data can work if production access isn't available.
Will profiling queries slow my site down while it runs?
Briefly and minimally — profiling adds a small overhead while it's active, which we do for a limited window rather than leaving on indefinitely.
What if the audit finds nothing significant?
Then we say so — the report reflects what we actually find, not a justification for further work you don't need.
Can this identify a single plugin as the main cause?
Often, yes, when one plugin's queries dominate the results — and naming it specifically is exactly the kind of finding that makes the report useful rather than a generic recommendation.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.