wp_options wpseo_taxonomy_meta

Hello @thewebmonk

Thanks for using Yoast SEO and we’re sorry that you are experiencing problems with our plugin. The wpseo_taxonomy_meta field contains the SEO title, a meta description, a focus keyphrase, related keyphrases, and synonyms for taxonomy items, like categories and tags.

We currently have a bug report where information stored in wpseo_taxonomy_meta field in the wp_options table won’t be cleaned up. When a taxonomy is deleted, we don’t delete the associated WPSEO data from the wpseo_taxonomy_meta option. Our developers know this bug and are working on a fix, but I do not have an ETA for the resolution. You can follow the updates here.

 If you have been using Yoast SEO for a while and deleted any taxonomy term, the wpseo_taxonomy_meta field likely contains information about those previously deleted terms. If you are familiar with editing serialized data, you can manually remove the taxonomy information for any taxonomy that is no longer in use on your site. You may want to use an editor to review and modify serialized data.

After manually cleaning up any removed terms from the wpseo_taxonomy_meta field, please check the size again. If it’s still above the recommended size, there are no additional ways to reduce the size without removing SEO content from the taxonomy terms. However, some users have reported improved performance after changing the autoload option to ‘no’. You can change the autoload field using an SQL command (example below). If you are not familiar with database modifications, please contact your web host or server admin for further assistance.

UPDATE wp_options SET autoload = 'no' WHERE wp_options.option_id = [id_of_wpseo_taxonomy_meta];

Setting the autoload option to NO might cause poor performance due to additional database queries needed to get the relevant data. You may not notice a difference on smaller sites when setting the autoload option to NO, but larger sites may experience slowness.

We recommend creating regular backups of your site and database for your site’s health and safety. A backup is crucial before editing the database directly and provides you with a safety net if something were to go wrong. Learn more about the benefits of regular backups. We know this isn’t the answer you wanted, but we hope it helps point you in the right direction.