Import DataBase Before/After Public_HTML

I am hoping that someone out there can explain this to me.

I have just restored my website following online documentation. I first drooped all the database files, then imported a backed-up copy of the database held locally. I then replaced all the files in the live public_html with those from a backed-up copy.

But I notice that the backed-up copy of public_html included a version of the database file (.sql). So wondering whether I should have imported from the rebuilt public_html folder? Does it matter?