Caching
Saving a ready-made copy of a page or file so it can be delivered quickly the next time, instead of being built from scratch for every visitor.
Caching means keeping a saved copy of something so it can be served again quickly. On a WordPress site, every page is normally built on the fly: the server runs code and asks the database for content. With caching, the finished page is saved, and the next visitor gets the saved copy almost instantly.
There are several layers of cache:
- Page cache on your server or host.
- Object cache for database results.
- Browser cache on each visitor’s device.
- CDN cache at locations around the world.
DNS has its own form of caching too, controlled by a setting called TTL.
Why it matters to a small business
Caching is one of the biggest, cheapest speed improvements for most websites. Faster pages keep visitors and help Core Web Vitals, especially LCP. Caching also helps your site cope with busy periods.
The downside: after you edit a page, visitors may briefly see the old cached version. Clearing the cache fixes it. Pages that change for each visitor, such as carts, checkouts and account pages, should not be cached.
Example
A restaurant updates its holiday hours, but the owner still sees the old hours on her phone. The page cache was holding the old version. Clearing the cache on the host shows the new hours to everyone.
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