How to Completely Uninstall SEOPress and Remove Its Data from Your Database

Many users of the 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' plugin want to perform a clean uninstall, removing not just the plugin files but also all associated data from their WordPress database. This guide explains the correct process to do this without accidentally causing issues, such as losing featured images.

Why a Standard Uninstall Isn't Always Enough

When you deactivate and delete the 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' plugin through your WordPress admin, the plugin's files are removed from your server. However, this action does not automatically delete the settings and metadata it stored in your database. This data remains in the wp_options and wp_postmeta tables. For a fresh start or to completely remove all traces of the plugin, you need to manually clear this data.

How to Safely Remove All SEOPress Data

Warning: Before performing any operation on your database, it is absolutely critical to create a complete backup. This allows you to restore your site if anything goes wrong.

Method 1: Using the Built-in Reset Tool

The plugin includes a tool that can remove most of its settings. This is the safest first step.

1. Navigate to SEO > Tools in your WordPress admin menu.
2. Click on the Reset SEOPress settings tab.
3. Follow the prompts to reset the settings.

Important Note: According to the 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' team, this tool primarily deletes entries from the wp_options table where the option_name starts with seopress_%. It does not remove post meta data (e.g., seopress_titles_title) from the wp_postmeta table.

Method 2: Manual Database Cleanup (Advanced)

To perform a complete uninstall, you must manually delete the remaining data from your database. This requires access to a tool like phpMyAdmin.

1. Access your database via phpMyAdmin (often found in your hosting control panel).
2. Select your WordPress database.
3. You need to run delete operations on two key tables:
   • Options Table: In the wp_options table, delete all entries where the option_name is LIKE seopress_%.
   • Post Meta Table: In the wp_postmeta table, delete all entries where the meta_key is LIKE seopress_%.

A Critical Warning About Featured Images

Thread 8 highlights a serious potential pitfall. A user reported that after deleting all seopress_% entries from the wp_postmeta table, their posts' featured images disappeared.

Why this happens: The 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' plugin stores information about social media images (e.g., for Open Graph tags) in the post meta table. If you manually delete these entries without caution, you might inadvertently remove the association between a post and its featured image, which is also stored in the same table under different meta keys (like _thumbnail_id).

The solution: Be extremely precise when deleting data. Ensure your database queries or manual deletions only target meta keys that start precisely with seopress_. Double-check your queries before executing them. This is why a backup is non-negotiable.

Conclusion and Future Improvements

Based on community feedback visible in the sample threads, the 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' team has acknowledged the need for a more user-friendly, one-click uninstall feature that thoroughly cleans the database. This feature has been noted on their development roadmap but, as of the time of this writing, has not yet been implemented.

Until such a feature is available, following the steps outlined above is the most effective way to ensure a complete uninstallation of the 'SEOPress – On-site SEO' plugin from your WordPress site.