What is a Cache Plugin, and How Will It Benefit My WordPress Website?

Website speed is an important element of website optimization that shouldn’t be underestimated. Unfortunately, even with several discussions centered on improving WordPress website speed by using cache plugin, it remains a less utilized feature on most websites. So, what exactly is website caching, and how can it benefit your website? Read on!

What is Website Caching?

WordPress website caching has a complicated and tedious explanation. However, simply put, caching is the process of developing static content versions for your visitors with the help of cache plugins. Static pages are quickly rendered to browsers, which improves website load speeds.

Fetching a page or post in WordPress requires several back and forth database queries to the server. In fact, several requests to the server are made before your website page loads entirely with files and other elements, such as header, menu, and images. Since the server makes these requests, it could take some time before the complete webpage is delivered to the user, especially for large and detailed websites.

This is where WordPress website caching comes in. Cache plugins instruct servers to store recently requested files to RAM or disk, depending on its configuration. With this, the server can easily remember and duplicate the content served previously, making your web pages load much faster.

Why You Need a Cache Plugin to Control Website Caching

Without caching, visitors may have to download web pages every time they visit your website. This is both time-consuming and slows the performance of your WordPress site. However, modern browsers with a cache plugin make it easy for returning visitors to access your website content faster.
A cache plugin eliminates the many steps taken by a browser to generate pages dynamically. With a cache plugin, you can achieve various server-side caching benefits, including page and object caching. That aside, with top cache plugins, such as WP Rocket, you can enjoy additional features like CDN integration, GZIP compression, and CSS, JavaScript, and HTML minification. All of which further boost your WordPress site performance.

Benefits of Website Caching

Some of the benefits of installing a cache plugin on your WordPress site include;

• Enhancing speed and performance – taking advantage of cache plugins improves the speed and performance of your website. Cached static files and pages load faster compared to dynamic queries.
• Reduces load on the host server – by minimizing database queries, cache plugins significantly reduce the load on your website host server. This saves server memory and input-output operations. This makes caching a good option for WordPress website owners with limited web hosting plans.
• Improves search engine rankings – better-performing websites not only load faster but can also enjoy better search engine rankings. However, this does depend on other search engine metrics, such as the quality of content and SEO implementation. Nonetheless, with everything kept constant, websites that load faster get better search engine rankings than slow websites.
• Improved user experience – cached websites also provides an overall better user experience. Fast websites improve your visitors’ browsing experience and save user’s bandwidth, as static pages are lighter than dynamic requests.

Bottom Line

Caching your WordPress website can also help with optimization and performance tweaks. Altogether, these contribute to an overly responsive website. However, using a good cache plugin solution is the key to enjoying these benefits. Fortunately, you can choose from various free and paid WordPress cache plugins, including WP Super Cache, WP Rocket, WP Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, and Cache Enabler, among others.

Note that different cache plugins work differently depending on several factors, including the amount of content on your website, type of hosting, and server configuration. Choose the best WordPress cache plugin for your website needs.