Biggie had it right – both in life and on websites. The more cache you have, the more problems seem to come with it.
What is cache? (Pronounced cash) Caching takes website assets like HTML, CSS, and Javascript and saves a compressed and combined version for quick access in a temporary location for future website loads.
There are a few types of caching:
- Server-side (where the files come from initially)
- Browser (tell the users computer to store files locally)
- Object (this remembers standard database calls and serves them statically without having to connect to the live database)
- Remote (a content delivery network or proxy will serve website assets from a 3rd location)
Caching is awesome. You want to cache – you need it. But caching can go seriously sideways when you have too many conflicting tools generating cached files.
Recently I had a client who had multiple types of website cache running in coordination with a remote cache. Everything runs fine until the order of file creation gets messed up and one cache references files that no longer exist. Suddenly, the website appears wholly broken, and tracking down the source gets super confusing.
So if you have caching on your website, I recommend using one reliable source of each caching type.
WP Rocket is great for shared hosting; WP Engine makes having caching a breeze; Cloudflare makes security and remote caching simple. But there are a lot of options out there.
You need caching! But if you require help speeding up your website and managing all the various cache solutions, we can help. Get started here.
