Caching is the process of saving website assets (files, images, etc.) to a temporary storage location so they can be quickly accessed. Put simply, caching allows pages to load faster. However, these cached assets maybe be out of date and can prevent you from viewing recent changes you’ve made to your site, which can be frustrating.
There are a few different layers of caching that occur from WPhost to your browser. There are many methods available to either circumvent or clear these caches, which we’ll go over below:
Clear your theme/plugin cache
If your site is not showing recent changes or if you are having trouble with old URLs sticking around, there is a good chance that there is a theme or plugin cache holding on to old content. Page/site builder themes and plugins create and manage CSS/JS files that are often cached hard. Look for cache clearing buttons usually found in the theme or plugin options. Clearing these caches can ensure the server is providing the most recent changes to visitors.
Site Server and CDN caching
In some cases you may wish to manually force the purging of your site's server and CDN cache. Clearing the entire cache can have a substantial impact on performance as the cache is built back up. This process takes a few minutes to complete.
Bypass browser cache
When you visit a site, your browser stores files and images directly on your device. Here are some methods to either bypass or purge your browser’s cache.
- Try opening the page in a different browser.
- If you're still not seeing your site changes you could try bypassing your browser's cache by adding a “cache busting string” to the site URL. Load the page, then navigate to the URL bar and add ?= and a unique string to the end of the URL, for example ?=nocache1. Press Enter to load the page with the cache busting string. Each time you try the cache busting string method, you’ll need to update the string (eg. ?=nocache2, ?=nocache3, etc).
- View the page in your browser’s Incognito or Private Mode.
- If your site loads correctly, using the methods above, you can flush your browser cache.
Device caching
Your computer, tablet, or smartphone will often cache DNS lookups. It’s not very common, but sometimes this can prevent changes from being displayed.
- Reboot your device to clear the DNS cache.
- View your site using a different device.
Network caching
Sometimes the network you’re connecting to is the caching layer causing issues.
- Reboot your modem and/or router.
- Connect to a different Wi-Fi network, if available.
- If you have a smartphone or tablet with a data plan, load the site with the Wi-Fi connection disabled.
- Connect your device to a Mobile hotspot.
ISP caching
Your ISP (internet service provider) may cache pages as well. While you can’t directly flush an ISP cache, assets are usually only cached for about 30 minutes.
