It is necessary to continuously maintain a database and code structure once a web site is published. That will keep the site working at its optimum and maintain its speed and search engine performance. There are many reasons why a codebase or database could become bloated or ineffective, for instance, subsequent changes to functionality or improvements to standards and best practices.
Undertaking database and code management can prevent a site from breaking when new standards and practices update server applications. That happens because the server application code does not stand still; it evolves and gets updated fairly regularly.
Regularly updating a server usually results in server applications, such as PHP and MySQL, updating at the same time. At this point, any deprecated (old and unsupported methods of coding) may become obsolete in your web site code and cause errors and failures in your web site.
Also, as you add data to your web site and the database grows in size, referencing data in your web site becomes slower as the code has to search through more database records to find the relevant sets of data for each request. Poorly structured databases and crudely maintained data sets can result in these regular operations becoming slower and more memory intensive.
These symptoms can harm a web site’s performance for users and search engines. Continuous maintenance of your codebase and data can help keep your web site healthy and performant throughout its life and ensure that your site stays relevant for a longer time.
If you are concerned that your web site suffers from slowing, errors, or poor performance, start a conversation with us about how we can help maintain your web site.