SiteGround is one of the most popular managed WordPress hosting companies for new bloggers. WordPress.org community also officially recommends SiteGround for hosting setup. SiteGround will automatically install WordPress on your domain, when you purchase a hosting plan from them. The installation will come with their free SiteGround Security and SG Optimizer plugins. It is common for new bloggers to play around installing WordPress on different subdirectories and subdomains. However, unnecessary installations will occupy storage space and affect your maintenance tasks over period. The best option is to review the unnecessary installation and delete them as and when they are not required.
Installing WordPress in SiteGround
You have the following options to install WordPress in SiteGround:
- Install on main or primary domain
- Install on Subdirectory
- Use subdomain for additional WordPress setup
- Duplicate entire website with staging
- Use additional domains
The basic StartUp plan allows you to use only one primary domain while all other plans allow you to unlimited domains on your hosting setup.
Delete WordPress Installation
In general, you can delete a WordPress site by deleting all the files in its installation directory and then deleting the corresponding database from MySQL section. However, SiteGround makes the entire process easy and allows you to delete the entire WordPress installation with just few clicks.
- Login to your SiteGround hosting account, and go to “Websites” section.
- The section will show all the sites added in your hosting account, and click on “Site Tools” link for the domain on which you want to delete the WordPress setup.
- When you are in “Site Tools” section, click on “WordPress” section and navigate to “Install & Manage”.
- Here, you will see all WordPress installations available on the selected site. This includes the installations on primary domain, subdomain and subdirectories.
- Each installation will show a three vertical dots action icon, and click on it against the installation that you want to delete.
- A Slide out menu will show up, and select “Delete Application” from the list of items.
- You will see a pop-up asking to confirm the deletion of WordPress installation. It will warn you that the action is irreversible and cannot be undone.
- If you want to keep the database or staging sites and only delete WordPress files, then choose “I want to keep my database after deletion” and “I want to keep my staging copies as standalone installations” options. If you do not want the staging sites and database, then leave the checkboxes unchecked.
- Click on “Confirm” button to delete the WordPress setup instantly. You will see a success message saying, “Application Delete” and the item will be removed from the list.
Deleting Subdomain in SiteGround
Now that you have deleted the WordPress installation on primary domain, subdomain or subdirectory. The subdirectories will be deleted along with other files, however, if you have installed WordPress on subdomain, the subdomain will be still there which you need to delete separately.
- When you are in Site Tools section, click on “Domain” section and go to “Subdomains” menu.
- You can view all subdomains available on your site along with a trash icon against each subdomain.
- Click on the trash icon against the subdomain that you want to delete.
- You will see a pop-up warning you the action cannot be undone and all your emails created with the subdomain will be deleted. If you want to keep the emails, you must take a backup from SiteGround Webmail interface. The easy option is to use Outlook and take a offline backup of your emails on your local computer.
- If you do not have any emails on the subdomain, simply click on “Confirm” button.
- You will see a success message saying, “Subdomain Deleted”, and you are done with the task.
Wrap Up
The above process helps you to clean up your hosting account by deleting unnecessary WordPress installations from your account. You can delete entire WordPress installations in few minutes from your primary domain, subdomains, and subdirectories. For subdomains, make sure to delete the subdomains from the account after deleting WordPress setup.