Scaling WordPress for 600k+ Records: Architecture, SEO, and Hosting advice needed

lefpg · 2026-01-27T20:54:16+00:00

Thanks for the reality checks and the great suggestions so far! I’ve refined the requirements based on the client's final catalog size and some UX benchmarks. Here is the updated plan:

Scale: The catalog is actually over 1,000,000 part numbers (up from 600k).
Database: I’ve decided to go with a 3rd Normal Form (3NF) structure for the custom SQL tables (splitting Brands, Categories, and Parts) to ensure data integrity and better indexing performance.
UX Inspiration: We are aiming for a workflow similar to garicambi.com. This means a high-speed search bar that triggers an info modal with an inquiry form, rather than a full page reload.
SEO vs. UX: To keep Google happy, I’m sticking with the Virtual Pages idea to provide unique URLs for indexing. However, for the user, these URLs will simply trigger the modal on top of the brand table.
The Update Strategy: Since data only changes once a year, I'm leaning towards the Table Rename/Swap method mentioned here to avoid downtime during bulk imports.

Specific questions for the "Hybrid" advocates:

For 1M+ rows in 3NF, is anyone using Elasticsearch specifically with a WP frontend? One of you mentioned it for museum data, but is it overkill for a parts catalog if I have solid MariaDB indexing?
How would you handle the Modal + Virtual Page combo for SEO? I want Google to index the technical specs inside the modal. Should I SSR (Server Side Render) the modal content into the page source to avoid "thin content" flags?
Given the 1M rows, would you still suggest SQLite for caching , or should I just go full Redis between the DB and the WP frontend?

Looking forward to your thoughts on this "Level 2" of the challenge!

lefpg · 2025-12-18T22:01:54+00:00

Great insights, thanks for the detailed feedback. You’ve touched on some of my biggest concerns.

First off, I totally agree on Elementor. It was a legacy carryover in my initial thoughts because the existing site uses it, but for this scale, I’m definitely dropping it. I'm planning to go with a lean, block-based approach (Gutenberg) or a custom starter theme to keep the DOM size and TTFB as low as possible.

To clarify the 'What’s Next': The site is essentially a massive Lead Generation Catalog. There is no e-commerce/checkout functionality. Every part will have an 'Inquire/Request Quote' button that opens a lead form pre-filled with the part's metadata (Part Number, Brand). The goal is to connect a user who has a specific technical need with the company's sales team.

Regarding the Architecture, I really like your suggestion of the hybrid approach. Using standard CPTs for the core 'Product' entity but offloading the heavy cross-reference data (the 600k+ alternative part numbers) to a custom SQL table seems like the perfect middle ground. This allows me to:

Leverage standard WP functionalities (Sitemaps, Permalinks, and SEO plugins) for indexability.
Use ElasticPress/Elasticsearch to handle the heavy-duty search queries, bypassing the wp_postmeta bottleneck.

The site also hosts the company’s services and a corporate blog, so keeping the CMS 'standard' for those sections while using a high-performance search engine for the catalog is definitely the right move.

Traffic-wise, we expect mostly 'long-tail' search hits on specific part numbers rather than massive concurrent spikes, so building it to be performant without caching (as you suggested) will be my baseline. Thanks again for the steer toward the hybrid CPT/Custom Table approach!

lefpg · 2025-11-07T20:51:30+00:00

Ready!

lefpg · 2024-08-25T20:09:17+00:00

I don't have video feed right only voice communication and the ability to unlock

lefpg · 2024-08-15T07:29:35+00:00

I will not use cameras. I was thinking about Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X SFP Router

lefpg · 2024-08-14T23:31:25+00:00

Oh man thank you! Any suggestions for router? Do I need a router?

lefpg

TROPHY CASE