How do I diagnose a site that has had a corrupted database restored?
-
Here's the situation:
Downloaded a backup of a full database from CPanel, because we needed to perform some queries on it.
Found out that after restoring it, CPanel had not been able to zip up the full database because the server memory was set so low (some posts weren't showing up after the restore).
SO, how would I go about determining exactly what content is missing from the site? What search engine queries would you perform? Is there a plugin I could use to establish the inconsistencies between the database content and the search results?
Your help is appreciated in advance!
-
Thanks a lot, Ryan. This response was really helpful.
-
Prior to SEO, my time was spent as a Microsoft Database Administrator. Your site almost certainly is using a MySQL database which is a different format then T-SQL, but the comparison likely holds.
Whenever I set up a MS SQL database, a task would be scheduled to automatically shrink the database. There are temp tables which are added and removed, files within the database which can have unused pages removed, etc. A database size reduction of 5% does not indicate to me any data loss.
At a high level, you need to compare the "corrupted" database with the one you restored on a file or table level to determine any differences. That is the only reasonable way to achieve your goal. The work should ideally be performed by a professional who is highly experienced in MySQL.
If you desire further assistance, I recommend pursuing the topic on a MySQL forum as this does not really pertain to SEO nor even WordPress.
-
Hi Ryan,
Apologies for not mentioning the software. The website is built on Wordpress.
Here's a bit extra information for you regarding the issue: upon inspection after seeing that the database was corrupted, comparing file sizes of the recently backed-up database, with a database that was backed-up three days beforehand, we found that the most recently backed-up database was around 5% smaller in file size than the earlier one—if anything it should be larger.
Regarding timestamps, the latest posts are there, and the comments seem to be there, so determining what exactly IS missing is something I'm going to need help with.
I can't restore the earlier version of the database either, because important data has been added since then.
The site works fine, for now. I'm just worried somewhere down the road we're going to find that there are 100 posts missing that are now turning up as 404 pages and lost links.
Does that make sense? Thanks for your help.
-
Based on your inquiry, it seems likely you are using specific software to run your site. It is unclear what type of software is being used, which is a critical factor. It could be a CMS such as WordPress. a shopping cart such as ZenCart, a forum such as vBulletin, etc.
You would likely receive the fastest and most accurate response by using the support site of the specific software in use.
Based on your questions, you are in far over your head and should ideally step aside and find a programmer who can resolve the issue. With that said, I'll try to answer your questions.
"how would I go about determining exactly what content is missing from the site?"
In order to determine what is missing, you need a baseline. You need to understand the site's function and activity. For example, if you are running an ecommerce site, what is the timestamp of the last order placed on the site?
"What search engine queries would you perform?"
None. You have an onsite issue. That is where your attention needs to be focused.
** "Is there a plugin I could use to establish the inconsistencies between the database content and the search results?"**
No. The search results should not even be a consideration. Search engines may choose to index or not index your content based on numerous factors including the robots.txt file, the meta tags on each page, the content on each page and so forth. Asking this question indicates you are grasping at straws. If your site is important to you, hire a professional developer to fix the problem. If the site is not of great importance (i.e. it does not generate revenue) then you can visit the site of the software in use and spend a day or two reading various articles, forums and such, then making various setting changes in an attempt to restore the site.
Another option....contact the web host and request them to restore a full backup of the entire site. This option would likely be best, but you would lose all data from after the time the backup was taken.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Site redesign makes Moz Site Crawl go haywire
I work for an agency. Recently, one of our clients decided to do a complete site redesign without giving us notice. Shortly after this happened, Moz Site Crawl reported a massive spike of issues, including but not limited to 4xx errors. However, in the weeks that followed, it seemed these 4xx errors would disappear and then a large number of new ones would appear afterward, which makes me think they're phantom errors (and looking at the referring URLs, I suspect as much because I can't find the offending URLs). Is there any reason why this would happen? Like, something wrong with the sitemap or robots.txt?
Technical SEO | | YYSeanBrady1 -
Query on Site Architecture
Hi All, When I check on my ecommerce site in one of the architecture tool in that my Ecommerce Homepage interlink with 765 pages whereas when I check few competitors and big brands then there homepage linked with 28 pages, 33, 47, 57 etc not like my site 765 pages. Do I am wrong anywhere? Can you please check the screenshot of mine & one of the competitor's site architecture? Because as per me site architecture also play good role in google organic ranking. vXs5dh2 16wre
Technical SEO | | pragnesh96390 -
Site Launching, not SEO Ready
Hi, So, we have a site going up on Monday, that in many ways hasn't been gotten ready for search. The focus has been on functionality and UX rather than search, which is fair enough. As a result, I have a big list of things for the developer to complete after launch (like sorting out duplicate pages and adding titles that aren't "undefined" etc.). So, my question is whether it would be better to noindex the site until all the main things are sorted before essentially presenting search engines with the best version we can, or to have the site be indexed (duplicate pages and all) and sort these issues "live", as it were? Would either method be advisable over the other, or are there any other solutions? I just want to ensure we start ranking as well as possible as quickly as possible and don't know which way to go. Thanks so much!
Technical SEO | | LeahHutcheon0 -
What Would i do to get my site ranking high?
Hello Friends, I need your help please tell me what would I do to get my site ranking high in Google search engine. When I start my work on my site my work blog commenting , social bookmarking, keyword targeting etc.… But now the scene is completely changing. Now I am working on just guest blogging. I don’t understand that what would I do next after the guest blogging. Because I think there is now just one way to promote your site VIA guest blogging. Now please tell me is there any other option to work and get high ranking?
Technical SEO | | KLLC0 -
What do the mozzers think about this site of mine?
Hello SEO MOzzers, I am today wanting your feedback on a site that I recently went live with. My Google rankings for the main keywords are doing very well considering the site has been live for 3 weeks now. I of course have a list of items that i'm still working on, completing meta description tags, title tags, adding copy content to category pages, updating h1 tags, working on our backlinking campaign, etc. The site is www.profitness-supplies.com Let me know what you think Mozzers
Technical SEO | | seohive-2227200 -
How can you manually diagnose the canonical problem
Good Monrning from snow dusted minus 3 degrees C Wetherby UK... Is there a quick way to diagnose wether or not a website has a canonical problem or not? So far Ive been doing this for example: Typing a full web address then one without the w's and seeing if a 301 redirect has been set up. But I'm not confident this is the best way to diagnose if there is a canonical problem with a site. I would like to ad that I want to see if a canonical problem exists with any site and webmanster tools is not available. Any insights welcome 🙂
Technical SEO | | Nightwing1 -
Google not visiting my site
Hi my site www.in2town.co.uk which is a lifestyle magazine has gone under a major refit. I am still working on it but it should be ready by the end of this week or sooner but one problem i have is, google is not visiting the site. I took a huge gamble to redo the site, even though before the refit i was getting a few thousand visitors a day, i wanted to make the site better as i was getting google webmaster errors. But now it seems google is not visiting the site. for example i am using sh404sef and i have put friendly url in the site and on the home page it has its name and meta tag but when you look at google it is not giving the site a name. Also it has not visited the site since october 13th Can anyone advise how to encourage google to visit the site please.
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Adding more content to an old site
We have a site which was de-moted from PR4 to PR3 with the latest Google update. We have not done any SEO for a long time for the site and the content is the same with over 100 page. My question is, in order to update the site, which is the best to do it, do we: 1. re-introduced new content to replace old once 2. re-write old content 3. Add new pages Many thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | seomagnet0