Indexes are supposed to make SQL Server faster – so why do so many databases end up slower, bloated, and harder to maintain when they have more of them? It usually comes down to misapplied indexes rather than missing ones. There may be too many that are too wide, tuned with settings that don’t fit the workload, or built on assumptions that stopped being true years ago.
This guide walks through the most common SQL Server index tuning mistakes seen in production environments, such as over-indexing, oversized INCLUDE lists, unnecessary fill factor settings, misuse of SORT_IN_TEMPDB, over-aggressive index maintenance –