What is a website cache? It must have happened to you that you leave a website just because it is slow. Unfortunately, most websites with poor hosting or unoptimized code or large media files struggle with this problem. However, there is no need to worry; Because there are many ways to solve this problem, one of the best of them is “website cache”. In this article, we will learn about website cache and its use.
What is a website cache?
Website Cache means storing data in a temporary place for the user to use again in the future. So what exactly does a website cache do? When a user opens a website, the website cache collects all its data and converts it into an HTML file and opens it in the user’s browser.
If this is the first time the user enters the website, this process must be completely completed; But if that website has enabled the cache feature, a copy of the website data will be stored in the cache the first time. In this case, from now on every time the user enters the same website, the said copy will be delivered to him.
In fact, in such a situation, there is no need to download and collect the website files from the beginning; Because the same copy that is already left, starts the work. This feature removes a lot of overload from the server; Therefore, server performance will be faster.
What happens to the website cache if we update the page content?
You’re probably wondering what happens if you enable caching for your website and then refresh the page content? Are updates left in the cache and not shown to old visitors? The good news is that caches deal with this scenario.
Caching systems don’t just store HTML files; Rather, if necessary, the cache is emptied and rebuilt. So when you update the content of the pages, the cache system in question automatically caches the updated version of that page.
Why is website caching important?
Websites are typically viewed hundreds or thousands or sometimes even millions of times per month. Needless to say, every time the server has to perform relatively complex and time-consuming calculations in order to show the website to the user. In this process, the server tries to retrieve the latest posts, create the header and footer, find the sidebar widgets, etc. By caching the website, the server no longer repeats these calculations and only remembers the final result and shows it to the users. This alone can dramatically increase page loading speed.
In other words, website caching reduces HTTPS requests; Therefore, the website uses less bandwidth to display the page to the user. This is a huge plus for websites; Especially websites that have limited resources. It is worth noting that site cache, in addition to directly affecting user satisfaction, also attracts the attention of search engines; Therefore, you can count on it to improve your website’s SEO.
Types of website cache
Depending on where the copied version of the website files are stored, we have two types of caches:
- Browser side cache
- Server side cache
In the cache of the browser, HTML and JavaScript files and images are stored in the memory of the user’s browser. The browser cache is used when the user wants to open a website that has already been accessed. In this type of cache, the website collects the necessary data to load the page, and then the browser stores and caches them.
The mechanism of the server-side cache is the same as the browser-side cache, with the difference that this time the “server” is the data storage place and not the browser. Another difference is that the server-side cache can store more data. It should be mentioned that we have several types of storage in the server-side cache; Such as full-page caching, object caching, and fragment caching.
The operation of server-side cache types
You may ask, what is the use of these three types of cache on the server side? In a simple definition, the full page cache stores the data of the entire page of the website. This mode is suitable for pages that have a lot of traffic. Object cache is useful for storing specific elements in different sections. Fragment cache is similar to object cache, except that it targets a more specific part of pages; Like widgets and extensions.
How to enable caching in WordPress websites?
To activate the cache in WordPress websites, you can enter the necessary codes directly into the main files of the website. However, we recommend that you do not do this; Because tampering with the main website code has many risks. Instead, you can easily use WordPress cache plugins.
What are the best WordPress plugins to enable website caching?
In order not to get confused in choosing a powerful WordPress cache plugin, we will introduce three examples of the best cache plugins below:
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WP Total Cache
If you ask what is the best site cache plugin, we introduce W3 Total Cache. If you want to try different cache states on your website, this plugin is for you. W3 Total Cache offers all cache states from “full page” to “fragment”.
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WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache has a unique way of caching websites. This plugin offers three modes for web cache: specialized and simple cache and WP-Cache. The specialized mode uses the Apache mod_rewrite method for Website Cache, and the simple mode provides static files with PHP codes, and the WP-Cache mode uses caching of previous users’ pages to improve website speed.
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Autooptimize
Autoptimize focuses on CSS and JS code. Working with this plugin is easier than the previous options; Because in it you only have to set the available options for HTML, CSS and JS.
Conclusion
Site cache is a very useful feature that increases the loading speed of web pages to a significant extent. This feature is divided into two general types: “browser-side cache” and “server-side cache”. Which type is ideal for your website depends on the type of website and the size of the page files and the available space for the server.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the general mechanism of website cache?
The web cache downloads the website data once and converts it into an HTML file. Then it takes a copy of this file so that when the same user enters the website for the next time, this copy file will be delivered to him. The advantage of this method is that it is much faster to serve the copied file that already exists on the server than to collect the website data from scratch.
- What happens to previous data when we update the website?
When you update a website, you are actually touching its files and changing them. Therefore, the web cache must re-download the new version of the website and then show it to the user. The cache system performs this process automatically.
- Does enabling website cache affect SEO?
Yes, the main benefit of website caching is to increase page loading speed. Since the speed of the website is one of the important factors for search engines, activating the website cache is an important step to improve the SEO of the website. Of course, fast pages reduce the click rate and increase the time spent by the user, which are two of the parameters considered by search engines.
- What are the best WordPress cache plugins?
There are many plugins to enable caching in WordPress websites; But these three plugins have worked best so far:
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Super Cache
- Autooptimize
- Can we use two cache plugins in one wordpress website?
In practice, there is no obstacle to activate two WordPress cache plugins; But with this, you may face plugin incompatibility issues. Therefore, our recommendation is to choose a comprehensive cache plugin and be content with that.
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