Whats is WordPress caching? Imagine you visit your favorite restaurant and the waiter already knows your usual order. Pretty cool, right? That's kind of what caching does for your website. It remembers frequently accessed content, like images and HTML pages, and stores them on a visitor's device. This way, when they return to your site, those elements can be loaded lightning fast without having to be downloaded all over again. WordPress caching is a effective way to optimise website speed. 

Benefits of Caching

  • Faster Loading Times

    Your website can load faster for repeat visitors by saving cached content to a visitor's device. This is especially vital for websites with large image pools or heavy media.

  • Reduced Server Load

    When content is cached, less computing resources required at the origin server end resulting in a decreased load on your web-server. This is useful for redacting websites with intensive traffic.

  • Improved User Experience

    Reduces user friction(Action > User Experience) - Speed matters People are more likely to stay on your site if it is fast.

Easy And Advanced Caching Solutions

Easy And Advanced Caching Solutions

At a high level, there are two main ways to cache your site:

Caching Plugins

Using a caching plugin would be the most simple option for those just starting out. Well, these plugins are simply tools that take care of the caching for you. Here are a common example of some popular ones.

  • WP Super Cache: This is a free yet simple to use plugin that can enhance your site speed up to multiple folds.
  • WP Rocket: This is a premium plugin and the functionality would be better than WP Super Cache.

Server-Side Caching

Users with a higher technical level of skill will benefit even further from server-side caching. This is the type of caching where you are going to modify your web server configuration in order to cache content. It is not easy to set up a reverse proxy for server-side caching but it can be done if you have the technical knowledge of how caches are handled.


Sujee's Recommendation

As I said to Sujee, every time he asked me for advice on where it should begin with solving performance issues, my answer was starting a caching plugin. They are straightforward and can largely bring up the speed of your website. From there, you can look at server-side caching once your website optimization chops are up to par.

Additional Considerations for Caching

  • Cache Expiration

This content should not be cached indefinitely. You should put an expiry time for the cached files, because your website content might change in times. This tells the visitor's device how long to hold on to your cached content before they would need a fresh copy from your server.

  • Caching Different File Types

Various file types are able to be cached, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript or images. Depending on the content and needs of your website, you will cache some files.

Deeper Dive Into How Caching Works

  • Browser Caching

What Browser Caching does is it stores static documents such as images, stylesheets and scripts on a visitors local device. On a return visit, the browser loads files from the local cache meaning it had to re-download them. According to Sujee, this will result in a significant improvement when loading pages as long as users are identified across multiple visits.

  • Server Caching

This is where server caching comes in, as it allows you to keep static copies of your web pages on the server. Every time a visitor asks for the page, your server can give it that pre-built version instead of creating it again from scratch. The method suggested by Sujee for website that are getting a lot traffic as it can reduce the load on server which can effect in response times.

Caching: Examples from the Real World

  • Static Website Content

Caching for a high content rate website (if the content is static, meaning it does not change very often) Browser Caching for Static Files like Images, CSS and JavaScript -Sujee This means that users who come back will not have to download these files again, which leads to a quicker load time.

  • Dynamic Website Content

Similar to the above tip, server-side caching can also benefit dynamic content because for a website with pouring requests like WordPress or CMS based websites it is mandatory. According to Sujee, cache the most popular pages and elements. For example, an e-commerce site could cache product pages and category listings since these are static or rarely refreshed while keeping the shopping cart and checkout pages dynamic to react with the last user

Tools to Help with Caching

  • Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights Before and After Optimization Source: Google Pagespeed insights is a free tool that helps to analyse the performance of the website, presents suggestions on how you can improve your site! This tool allows you to monitor and see areas of potential caching as well as other optimizations that can be used.

  • GTmetrix

GTmetrix is a good resource that can deliver you the detailed information of your website speed & performance. It gives detailed advice on caching and other things you should do to speed up your site - keeping in mind that it also helps with overall recommendations for improving the website.

Avoid These Caching Mistakes

  • Over-Caching

On the upside of caching - content that requires a lot of processing power builds within seconds, but downside is over-caching can make visitors land on stale data. Sujee suggests cache expiration times that maintain the content relevancy to your page visitors.

  • Not Caching Enough

But on the other hand, caching less content can slow down load time and increase server pressure. Sujee argues for middle-of-the-road, opting to cache static content longer but setting expiration times pretty short on dynamic calls.

Final Thoughts on Caching

Caching should be implemented and this can increase your website speed exponentially. This in turn can lead to an improved experience for the users and may also contribute a few gems towards helping your site rank better on search engines. From Sujee's perspective, simple caching plugins are the best place to get started. Finally, as you grow more certain with website optimization then try out some advanced caching methods to speed your site even further.

Conclusion

Enable a caching solution and follow these tips to make sure your website loads quickly for you visitors. With a little effort and the correct tools, Sujee believes you can greatly increase your website speed & performance.