As a beginner, the very first troubleshooting advice you will need to know is how to clear cache in WordPress. If you are completely unfamiliar with the term, you shall worry no more since in this article we will be covering a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to clear cache in WordPress using a few different approaches, depending on your capabilities, skills, and demands.
Clearing cache is the process of clearing your website’s temporary storage of content and data. It happens that when making major changes on your website and you still cannot see the changes in real-time. This is because your website is showing stored content and all you need to do is simply clear WordPress cache and browser cache in order to see those new changes.
Throughout the article, we will be showing you what caching is, why you should clear cache in WordPress, and we will be covering tutorials on how to clear cache in WordPress using plugins, how to clear cached information through your hosting provider, and how to clear browsing data from your web browser. Follow us along.
What is Caching in WordPress?
To answer simply, caching refers to a process of improving performance by creating static versions of your content and serving that to your visitors. Instead of rendering or fetching a page that requires back and forth queries to be sent to and from the database, your visitors will be served with the static pages which generally render much more quickly thus contributing to faster performance of your website.
Caching is best used for posts or pages that do not require much change to them or ones that you won’t be updating daily. By serving static pages to your visitors and avoiding the back and forth queries to and from the database will lead to less load on the server, hence better performance. There are several different types of caching solutions available for WordPress.
The most popular method is using a WordPress caching plugin like WP Rocket or WP Super Cache. For more recommendations, please refer to our article on the best WordPress clear cache plugins. The plugin approach is one of the simplest and the easiest ones, especially for beginners and novices of WordPress.
These plugins will offer some capable and advanced caching properties to control what files and media are cached when the cache expires when the cache is cleaned up, and more. Besides plugins, you can clear cache in WordPress using the built-in capability that some of the hosting providers offer. If you are using a web application to maintain your website’s security, some of the providers will also include a cache to speed your website and reduce uptime. Also, some modern web browsers will also store cached versions of pages on your web browser.
Why should you clear cache in WordPress?
The reason we use website caching is that it provides an optimal experience for visitors. By serving your visitors a static version of your content your website will load much more quickly and will revitalize your site at a greater rate.
When undergoing major changes on your website, once it’s all finished you might notice that these changes do not manifest on your website, making it impossible for you or your visitors to see the newer version and the updates on your website. You will be presented with an older version of your website, and it’s not the result you would expect.
Learning to clear cache in WordPress will help you that the most recent version is live on your website for everyone to see and explore. Clearing your cache can often help with troubleshooting too, depending on what you’re trying to fix. In a nutshell, clearing your cache simply means clearing the temporary storage of your site. Learning how to clear your cache in WordPress will make for a seamless experience while managing and maintaining your website.
Clear Your Web Browser Cache | Method 1
We are starting from the basics, the reason why sometimes you might not be able to see the changes you’ve made on your website is because of your web browser. Most web browsers store static website content like stylesheets, JavaScript, images, and other website files to improve loading speeds.
This means because of the static pages they store, instead of providing a fresh copy of your site, they will serve the saved page in your browser.
For the purpose of this article, we will be using Google Chrome as our example browser. To begin clearing the cache in Google Chrome simply click on the menu icon, then select More Tools » Clear Browsing Data.
Once you do that you will have successfully cleared the cache in your web browser. Now go back to your WordPress website to see if you can spot the changes.
If you are still unable to see the changes you’ve made to your website, we suggest you move on to the other methods.
Clear Cache in WordPress Using a Plugin | Method 2
Many blog posts later, we can still attest that the plugin way is the easiest way to get things done in WordPress. For a second approach, we are going to clear cache in WordPress by using the help of a plugin to automate the process and make it easier for you to manage your blog, online store, or any other niche website you have established.
For demonstration purposes, we have selected two of the most popular WordPress caching plugins and show you how it’s done.
Clear Cache in WordPress with WP Rocket
We will begin showing you how to clear cache in WordPress using the WP Rocket plugin which is one of the best caching plugins and offers amazing flexibility as well as advanced features.
The best feature about WP Rocket is that once installed the plugin will proactively create a WordPress cache running in the background. This way your users will always be served with a cached version of your website.
To begin to clear cache in WordPress you will first off need to install and activate the plugin. Once the plugin is activated you will see its configurations upon the admin dashboard. From there simply go to the Settings » WP Rocket and click on the ‘Clear Cache’ button in the plugin dashboard.
Clear WordPress Cache With W3 Total Cache Plugin
Choosing which WordPress caching plugin you decide to install and implement on your website will depend on the features they provide, your budget, and other factors. However, W3 Total Cache is another outstanding and free WordPress plugin that offers caching capabilities to increase the performance of your website.
Once again install and activate the plugin from the WordPress repository Once you’ve done that you should be able to see its settings on the WordPress dashboard. From there go to the Performance menu and locate the Settings for the plugin. It’s as simple as clicking on the “Empty All Caches” button.
Clear Caching in WordPress using your Hosting Provider | Method 3
Clear Cache with Kinsta Hosting Provider
Once again for demonstration purposes, we will be choosing only a few hosting providers to show you how to clear cache in WordPress, nevertheless, the process is yet simple for most providers.
First, we will be using Kinsta as it is an amazing hosting provider that offers tons of flexibility and advanced features out-of-the-box. When you use Kinsta, a premium managed WordPress hosting provider, they take care of all your caching needs at the server level. This includes full-page and objects caching. However, you can also perform the task manually.
The first and simplest method shows on just about every page on the WordPress dashboard. That’s because it’s part of the top dashboard menu. To clear the cache from the dashboard with the click of a button, locate the Clear Cache button.
Clear Cache with Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the most popular and the best hosting providers for WordPress websites that comes at a very reasonable price but entails high-end tools and features for your to easily establish your website.
This hosting provider is so good it’s also recommended by WordPress itself. Bluehost provides a built-in caching solution that helps revitalize your website and improve performance and speed out-of-the-box.
Bluehost makes it easy to clear your WordPress cache from your WordPress admin area. SImple log in to your WordPress dashboard, and from the admin area and you’ll see a ‘Caching’ button in the top admin toolbar. Hover over this, then click the ‘Purge All’ option.
Clear Cache on Your WordPress Firewall | Method 4
A WordPress firewall is technically a reverse proxy because it reviews and filters traffic before it reaches your website. If you’re using a WordPress firewall like Sucuri to protect your website, then there’s another layer of caching you’ll need to clear.
If you are using Sucuri to keep your WordPress website secure, you can also clear cache by going to Sucuri » Firewall (WAF) in your WordPress admin panel. All you need to do is to select the ‘Clear Cache’ menu option and then click the ‘Clear Cache’ button.
Final Thoughts
We have now concluded our comprehensive guide on how to clear cache in WordPress. We have included all the necessary methods to help you clear your cache in WordPress. We hope that by the end of this article you have learned all the best practices for clearing cache and you are able to increase the performance of your website.
Caching is a simple yet important factor to speed up your website and improve user experience as it will provide users with stored static content much more quickly. The plugin approach is the simplest and the most efficient one as it allows you to automatically clear cache in WordPress running o the background while you are taking care of providing the best content for your users.