The cache is quite a popular term in the world of the Internet and for a good reason – by using cache you can make your website faster and more user-friendly. \
To understand more, continue reading.
What is WordPress Cache?
Every time you open a website in your web browser a comprehensive process of data exchange begins:
First, WordPress sends a request to the website’s database from where this requested information is given back to WordPress, and with all the collected elements the CMS generates an HTML page. That particular page is then displayed to you via your Internet browser.
This process is based on lots of steps and requires a ton of processing and if it is executed each time you decide to open a new web page, the loading times will be greatly exceeding the patience limit you have.
This is where WordPress cache shines.
In plain words, caching manages to eliminate some of the elements of the data exchange process and allows you to enjoy your browsing experience with low loading times.
By using caching, WordPress stores web pages in the web server or the browser memory from where they are requested once you decide to get back to them.
In short, WordPress caching lowers the loading speed of a given webpage.
To achieve this goal more efficiently, different types of caching are used. Find out what these are in the next section.
What Types of Cache are There?
There are two main types of caching:
- Client-Side caching
Each website contains static data, comprised of images, CSS, and Javascript files. When using a cache, they are being downloaded, so the web browser doesn’t request them each time the page needs to be displayed. Instead, the downloaded bits of data are being used by the browser to display the given page. This saves both time and resources. Indeed, this process of reusing the cached data from the user’s computer is known as client-side caching.
- Server-Side caching
This type of caching is comprised of several sub-types of caching:
Page caching saves the dynamically generated HTML files in the server’s memory space, so these bits of data are being used whenever a new page request is present.
Database query caching – these queries are usually large and each query requires time to be processed. The issue is that WordPress relies on this database and makes queries quite often. Therefore, the database query cache simply saves the results of each query and uses them later, when needed.
Object-based caching means that different WordPress plugins can be installed to WordPress, so they take up some of the caching work.
Opcode caching saves PHP codes between every request and uses it for future requests.
How to Use Cache on My WordPress Site?
When it comes to your personal site, the most convenient way to cache is by installing a dedicated WordPress plugin to your system. Some plugins perform regular clearing of cache files and also search for updated information. Others are used to create dynamic instead of static cached pages, which further reduces loading speeds and yet other ones are optimized to work with sites that contain external content – twitter comments, Pinterest boards, and all other kinds of external content.
Some of the most popular WordPress cache plugins include:
What Does Clearing WordPress Cache Mean?
WordPress caching creates a static copy of a given webpage and when it should get back to it, the system simply loads the copy. However, the process includes stripping out the PHP code within the static page, which means that it cannot be updated and won’t display any changes, should there be any.
Clearing the cache simply means re-caching all previously cached data. The old static copies are being deleted and new ones are being generated. This process is quite handy, as it quickly refreshes the data with which WordPress works and frees up some disc space.
Conclusion
WordPress Cache plays an important role when it comes to optimizing your website. Taking care of the optimization of your pages is important, as the faster your site is, the more likely it is to retain your visitors’ engagement.
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