A Basic Guide to WordPress Caching for the Unitiated

Website management has become much more detail-intensive than it has ever been before. Compared to the days when HTML was king and Flash was still a thing, today’s web development landscape has become more advanced thanks to a constant stream of innovations and updates. As professionals and tech visionaries alike continue to push the frontier on websites, it’s impossible not to notice the opportunities you can take advantage of.

If you’ve been dedicating more time, money, and effort to keep your website up-to-date, then you’re most likely using WordPress as your Content Management System (CMS). Considering that WP is the most widely used system today—thanks to its flexibility, user-friendliness, and long-term utility—there’s no doubt that there’s no better option to use. 

Whether you’re a few years or few months into using WordPress, you’ve probably familiarised yourself with its nuances. Amid all the different terms and concepts that you’ve run into as you grow more familiar with website management, however, there’s one particular term that’s bound to pique your interest: WordPress caching.

What is it?

WordPress caching, simply put, exists as the platform’s way of improving performance for all users seeking to have a seamless content management experience during high-traffic situations.

WP users face many hurdles in their system when they experience high traffic, mainly because of the load on the system. Such spikes in traffic can make a website prone to crashing without the right protocols in place. Fortunately, the platform’s developers were able to create a solution to counteract such problems through WordPress caching functions that mitigate the load.

How it helps

Accessible by installing W3 Cache or WP Super Cache, this process makes it easier for websites to reuse previously-generated data and requests generated from database queries while speeding everything up. Through WordPress caching, websites and their content systems have more stable experiences that lead to better website experiences for clients with requests, visitors, and website owners alike! 

The different kinds of WordPress caching

Generally speaking, caching is broken up into two forms: client-side caching and server-side caching. Let’s go over both kinds of caching—which Hosted WP’s experts are well-versed in—in greater detail:

Client-Side caching

The best way to define client-side caching is that it’s the process of reusing the cached data from the client’s computer—or client end, alternatively put. 

Nowadays, almost every modern website uses this type of caching, and every browser supports it because it circumvents the functional and systematic hurdles posed by non-textual and static data. Through this process, it is much easier to prevent data redundancy (the act of downloading the same data repeatedly) and saves a lot of server resources because it uses an access point’s cached data!

Server-Side Caching

Server-side caching is best defined as a process that entails generating caches from the server-side of website interaction. 

Typically, server-side work falls to the hosting service or server—a task that Hosted WP handles for hundreds of our clients daily. Compared to client-side caching, which follows a singular protocol, this process includes four separate and unique protocols:

  • Page caching
  • Database query caching
  • Object-based caching
  • Opcode caching

Conclusion

While your website follows many different processes to keep everything running as smoothly as possible, one of the most important tasks you should be aware of is WordPress caching. By taking the time to understand this particular process on a deeper level, you can help ensure that your website’s day-to-day operations pan out in the long run! 

Are you looking for a reputable managed WordPress hosting service available in Australia? Our experts over at Hosted WP have you covered. Get in touch with us today!

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