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To cache or not to cache in Wordpress

by businesslegions
18 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I've been told by my hosting provider that I need to use a plugin to cache the content on a WordPress site. There are too many queries to the database.

This is to reduce the time it takes to load pages from the website. They even suggested that it will help with SEO and rank higher. Is this true or they don't have a clue on what they are talking about.

I'm always hesitant to install a plugin for no particular reason.

To make this discussion worth while please provide some stats and examples.
#cache #seo #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    You don't need stats or examples. You've been told to do this by your host, so you've already got a very good reason.

    It's also fairly obvious why the site is going to get faster, and you already seem to know the basics about that. Google likes fast sites a bit more, and they've been very forthcoming about that too.

    Added: Caching a WordPress site is usually not problematic, because most of the sites are not too dynamic. It's one of the things that I'd recommend to almost anyone. It's possible some cache plugins wont work properly with your site or server, but there's alternatives.
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  • Profile picture of the author my username
    I don't know who your host is, but usually they know what they are talking about.

    Also, only for a small WP site would I recommend NOT using a plugin for this, and I too try to limit the number of plugins. W3TC is the most popular for this, probably.

    Google does care (Page Speed). You can test page speed yourself at https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/ .
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  • Profile picture of the author outNabout
    A simple search for "Website Cache Plugin" on wordpress will give you a list of the best plugins to do the job. Consider the ones with good reviews stars. Your host advice could mean your pages have a lot of images or media which takes long to load from their servers. check your image size before you use the plugins. Cache plugins sometime can give you a headache by interfering with your site sometimes.My site once had problems loading and after removing the plugin everything went back to normal.
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    Just do it
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
    Yes use cache. Websites with sizable users should cache. It will greatly reduce server load because it eliminates the need to call the database and PHP functions all the time. With caching, it's almost like your serving your users a plain HTML site, definitely faster than without cache.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Using cache compresses your site size and make it load faster because it becomes smaller than the actual size.

    And of course, Google loves sites that loads fast.
    It's part of what they use to determine a site with good usability. The big G care about their customers and try to offer them the best browsing experience.
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    • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
      Originally Posted by johnben1444 View Post

      Using cache compresses your site size and make it load faster because it becomes smaller than the actual size..
      That's not what a cache does. It doesn't compress anything.

      Hypercache Extended + DB-Cache Reloaded Fix is an excellent combo.
      Popularity doesn't mean best. (In fact, many times, it's not even second best!)
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      • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
        Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post

        That's not what a cache does. It doesn't compress anything.

        Hypercache Extended + DB-Cache Reloaded Fix is an excellent combo.
        Popularity doesn't mean best. (In fact, many times, it's not even second best!)
        Actually Hyper Cache & HC Extended can compress the (stored) pages, there is an option for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author WPcrew
    There are some good features in all caching plugins, but on shared hosting you can't achieve full potential. Anyway, you have to start somewhere, so take a look at here:
    How to Install and Setup W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN for Beginners
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  • Profile picture of the author businesslegions
    Thank you all. All useful information. I will try out the plugin W3 Total Cache Plugin.

    I was hesitant to just install the plugin under the hosts instructions because it sounded like a "default answer".

    Should I use CloudFlare or MaxCDN? I noticed CloudFlare is free.
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  • Profile picture of the author businesslegions
    Ok strangely I installed W3 Total Cache Plugin and when enabling page cache, database cache, minify the pingdomc tests went from 69 to 78 however the page didn't display correct ie problem with CSS.

    When I disabled minify it went from 78 down to 64.

    Then i disabled the plugin and went back to 69.
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    • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
      Do NOT user W3 for WP. Use

      Hyper Cache Extended.

      Simple as that.
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      • Profile picture of the author businesslegions
        Ok thanks Cagliostro.

        I'll give that a go and see if it improves it.
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        • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
          Originally Posted by businesslegions View Post

          Ok thanks Cagliostro.

          I'll give that a go and see if it improves it.
          Just be carefull, if you use compression in your .htaccess, disable the two options in Hyper Cache Extended. And vice versa.
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      • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
        Originally Posted by cagliostro View Post

        Do NOT user W3 for WP. Use

        Hyper Cache Extended.

        Simple as that.

        Why simple? W3 Total is one of the most popular, would you care to explain why you assert that most WordPress users using a caching plugin are using the wrong one?
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        • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
          Originally Posted by RobinInTexas View Post

          Why simple? W3 Total is one of the most popular, would you care to explain why you assert that most WordPress users using a caching plugin are using the wrong one?
          Because apparently you have not used W3 or Hyper Cache EXTENDED.

          HC Extended is EXACTLY what the guy needs. In a shared hosting plan. HC EXTENDED is SPECIAL designed for EXACTLY that case. Even has an option not to refresh cached pages IF the Server Load is bigger that XXX.

          Popular W3 ? Maybe. NextGen is also popular, so what ?

          But why believe me ? Just TRY Hyper Cache Extended and see for yourself.
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      • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
        Originally Posted by cagliostro View Post

        Do NOT user W3 for WP. Use

        Hyper Cache Extended.

        Simple as that.
        Yeah, right. How about using whatever fits the need and seems to work?

        Talking about shared hosting as if it was a single platform that can always run something is just asinine. Unless that Hyper Cache is something super trivial there's almost certainly a scenario where it just wont run for whatever reason. And that's ok, that's the way it goes.

        I don't feel that good about plugins that are three major versions behind, but I guess WP hasn't changed that much. And being a bit behind of times seems to be fairly common with cache plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author businesslegions
    I seem to get different results between Google Speed Page tests and Pingdom depending on the plugin used.

    Is it better to have a higher score in Google Speed Page tests rather than Pingdom?
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  • Profile picture of the author businesslegions
    My advice based on this little exercise and extensive testing conducted today is to basically perform testing and figure out which plugin works best. Rather than just installing the plugin and assume that it helped, it is best to just measure the before and after stats.
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