How ToGuide

A Beginner’s Guide to Clearing Cache in WordPress (Step by Step)

Introduction:

Clearing Cache in WordPress is the term used for creating static copies of your page or post which are then served up to the end-user. In effect, WordPress runs the processes required once to generate the page the first time someone visits it. This page is then cached for future visitors who get served the static page.

Definition Of Cache :

Caching is the process of storing elements of your website in the cache of the browser or static HTML files on the server to ensure easier and faster access when it comes to future visits. When a visitor navigates on your website, the PHP code will process the request, call the database for every query that’s needed and then puts out an HTML file which will be displayed by your browser.

What Does Clear Cache Mean?

When you clear your website’s cache, you’re erasing the temporarily saved files in your cache data layer. Once you clear your cache, browsers will load the most recent version of your website pages and use those to create new cache data.

Clearing your cache files does not delete your website’s permanent data. Only the snapshots of your website pages that were previously saved get cleared.

Types of WordPress Caching:

There are two primary types of caching protocols available, based on the client-server model. They are: 

1) Client-Side caching 

2) Server-Side caching Client-Side caching

Client-Side caching:

A website contains a lot of non-textual, static data, such as images, CSS and Javascript files. Once they’re downloaded, your browser is smart enough not to re-download them every time you hit the F5 button. It simply serves that data from the local cache – i.e. the cached data saved in your computer’s hard disk. That’s why it’s recommended to clean your browser’s cache every once in a while, – it saves a lot of space and improves performance. This process of reusing the cached data from the client’s computer (or client’s end) is known as client-side caching and almost every modern website uses it and every browser supports it. Client-side caching helps prevent data redundancy (i.e. downloading the same data over and over again) and saves a lot of server resources.

Server-Side Caching:

Clearing Cache in WordPress at the server is known as server-side caching. Server-side caching includes various caching protocols that are used for WordPress caching. They are listed below:

1) Page caching 

2) Database query caching 

3) Object based caching 

4) Opcode caching

Page caching:

Page caching is the simplest of all the caching protocols. It simply refers to the process of saving the dynamically generated HTML files in the server’s hard disk or memory (RAM). It is known as the cache. Then it will be serving from the cache (i.e. reusing previously generated data) whenever a request is made. This saves the overhead of executing PHP code and MySQL database queries.

Database query caching:

The databases will consume more resources. They can be called as the heart of every company. The database is used to store, update, and deliver data efficiently. Since they’re usually huge, each query takes time (usually in the order of a few hundred microseconds). In the case of databases, better the hardware, faster the query result generation. Since WordPress is heavily reliant on its database, it makes a query many times. When data isn’t being altered in the database and queries are made to retrieve the same data it is like re-downloading the same images. Therefore, saving the results of a query in the local storage will save time and resources. The saving of database queries’ results in local storage which is called database caching and is one of the fundamental factors in WordPress caching. When the database is updated, like when a post is updated or published, or a comment is submitted, it is required that the previously saved database cache to be deleted and re-caching the database query results again.

Object based caching:

WordPress has an internal caching system which includes several subsystems (i.e. the Caching API, Object Cache, and Transient API). The WordPress core allows plugins to control this caching system to reduce the number of database calls.

Opcode caching:

Like the database caching, opcode caching refers to the saving of the compiled PHP code between every request. PHP is an object oriented programming language. For a PHP code to execute, the PHP compiler must compile the code first and generate the executable code for the webserver to execute.

When You Need a Clear WordPress Cache:

By now, you might be thinking, “If my WordPress cache increases my page load speed, why would I want to clear it?” Regularly clearing your WordPress cache is part of good website hygiene. Below are some specific scenarios where you should reset and have a clear WordPress cache.Likewise, if you’ve made changes to your website, but you don’t see them, check the last time you cleared your cache.

How To Clearing Cache in WordPress:

If you’ve made changes to your website, but they aren’t showing up, it might be time to clear your cache. 

Here’s how to get a clear WordPress cache and ensure your website is operating properly.

1. Clear Your Browser Cache:

If you can’t see the changes you made to your website, your personal browser cache might be the culprit. 

Your browser cache stores data such as HTML pages, and it might show you old copies of your website. 

If you use Google Chrome, you can clear your browser cache by going to your browser menu (three dots in the top right corner) and select More tools followed by Clear browsing data. 

You can find a step-by-step guide online to clear browsing data for all other major web browsers, including Firefox and Safari.

2. Clearing Cache in WordPress Caching Plugin Cache:

To speed up your WordPress website with caching, you’ll need a WordPress cache plugin.

Several WordPress caching solution plugins are available, and most of them have a “delete cache” option or clear cache button on the settings page. You can also check to see if your plugin provider offers tutorials for clearing out the cache.

Keep reading to compare the top three WordPress Cache plugins.

The Benefits of WordPress Caching:

The major benefits of the WordPress caching involve the following. 

1) Speeding up the website 

2) Better search engine rankings 

3) Save some of the server’s resource consumption

We hope this article helped you to Clearing Cache in WordPress! You may also want to see our complete list of guide on https://techtopoint.com/

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker!