Of all the plugins recommended for WordPress, the Number #1 plugin at the top of the list is a Cache Plugin.
For a minimal amount of work the benefits are massive to bothe website owner and the hosting server.
- Faster web pages
- Less drain on server
- Increase page rank on search engines
What is caching?
In simple terms, caching refers to the process of creating static versions of your content, and serving that to visitors . Static pages are generally rendered quickly in browsers. This leads to faster performance of your website.
In WordPress, rendering or fetching a page (or post) requires multiple queries to be sent to and from the database. This is time consuming (milliseconds) and uses server resources including RAM and bandwidth.
The vast majority of content created in a post or a page won’t be updated every day. Caching creates static copies of your post or page, and serves that to visitors. This way, the back and forth queries to and from the database can be avoided, thereby reducing the server load.
The benefits of caching
There are various benefits of caching in WordPress, such as:
- It enhances the speed and performance of your website. Static cached files load faster than dynamic database queries, and this leads to faster and better performance of your website.
- Caching reduces the load on your hosting server. This saves server memory and I/O operations.
- Faster websites do not just load fast, but also get a favorable rank with search engines.
- Cached websites provide for a better user experience overall. A faster site helps users browse better.
How to cache WordPress
The easiest way is with a plugin. There are free and premium WordPress plugins that enable caching on your website.
Popular WordPress caching plugins
- WP Super Cache – a free WordPress plugin with over a million active installations.
- W3 Total Cache – extremely popular caching plugin with over a million active sites.
- WP Fastest Cache – generates static HTML pages to speed up page load times.
- Cache Enabler – offers an extremely simple and easy to use interface.
- Comet Cache – offers a range of caching features.
- WP Rocket – is a premium solution, but delivers very good results.