Before we learn how to clear cache in WordPress, let us first understand the concept of cache. Once you visit a webpage, you send out a request for information, and the server responds to it.
The server pulls the necessary data from its storage and once it has the required information, it sends the information as the HTML file, and it is finally shown to the user as a web page. Let us think if the same user keeps coming back to the page, and he has to repeat the entire process every time, which is going to be time-consuming.
To reduce the time and provide users with a solution, the cache is used. The caching system will have a copy of the data files belonging to a web page, which will be used as a cache to load the web page faster. There can be 2 types of caching, namely client-side caching or browser caching and server-side caching. In client-side caching, the copy of HTML pages is stored and loaded from the user’s local machine. On the other hand, server-side caching stores and retrieves the data from a server.
What is a Cache?
A cache is a storage that saves temporary files and data that allows browsers to load websites faster. Cache allows browsers to recover data via servers or locally and makes the process of loading web pages or websites quick.
Sometimes due to the previous cache of a website, you do not get to see the enhancements or new elements of a website. In such a case, you need to clean the cache to allow your browser to create a new cache of a website.
How to Clear Cache in WordPress?
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to clearing your WordPress website cache. Users tend to take the help of several tools and plugins which store cache and cookies. Also, a website’s cPanel stores cache. Thus, clearing WordPress cache means clearing those cache selectively one by one. Now, depending on the plugin and hosting service provider you may have to follow different methods to clean cache in WordPress.
Here, we have discussed the steps to clear cache stored with common WordPress plugins and hosting service providers:
Clear cache in WordPress Caching Plugins
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Clear cache in WP Rocket
WP Rocket is one of the most popular caching plug-ins that can help to improve the loading time and overall performance of a WordPress website. Here’s how you can clear the cache created by WP Rocket:
- Step 1: Go to Settings in the WordPress admin panel, and then click on WP Rocket.
- Step 2: On the Dashboard tab, you can find the Clear cache button, click on it.
- Step 3: You can also use the WordPress toolbar to find the WP Rocket plugin menu. After clicking on it a menu will expand and from there you will need to click on the Clear cache tab.
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Clear Cache in WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is a static plug-in. The HTML is directly sent via Apache without PHP scripts. With the use of this plug-in, you will see an instant boost in the speed of your WordPress website significantly. Here are the steps for clearing cache stored with this plug-in:
- Step 1: On the WordPress admin panel, you need to go to “Settings” and then select “WP Super Cache”.
- Step 2: Click the Delete Cache button which is located in the Delete Cached Pages section.
- Step 3: Refresh the website, and you can see the updates now.
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Clear Cache in W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is an amazing caching and performance improvement plug-in for WordPress. It allows to improve the loading speed of WordPress websites and also enhances the server performance. You can clear cache stored with this plug-in quite easily with the help of the following steps:
- Step 1: On the WordPress admin panel, you need to go to “Settings” and then select “W3 Total Cache”.
- Step 2: Click on empty all caches, which is on the Performance tab of W3 Cache settings.
Clear Cache on WordPress cPanel
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Clearing Cache on WP Engine
If you’re using WP Engine hosting, you don’t need to install any caching plugin separately. They run a caching solution that helps you to clear your WordPress cache from cPanel. To do so, click on the WP Engine from the admin bar to open the General settings. In the General settings window, click the “Purge All Caches” button to clear your WordPress cache.
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Clear Cache on Bluehost
Just like WP Engine, Bluehost also provides caching solutions of their own. Here is how to clean the WordPress cache using Bluehost.
- Step1: Login to your WordPress dashboard and click on the Caching option from the admin bar.
- Step 2: From the menu, choose Purge All to delete all the caches.
Bonus Tip: How to Clear Cache on Web Browsers?
No matter which web browser you are using to access your WordPress website, all the browsers store cache, and cookies to provide you a better browsing experience. If you want to get a better browsing speed or if there are certain issues associated with the page loading, clearing the cache and cookies might help.
Here we have discussed some easy steps that you need to follow to clear the cache on the Google Chrome browser. However, for other browsers, the process of clearing cache is quite similar. Thus, even if you are using some other browser, you can definitely have an idea on how to clear the cache on them:
- Step 1: On the Chrome browser window, you need to go to the Settings sections or select More tools, which is accessible from the three dots menu icon button at the top right of the browser interface.
- Step 2: Then, you need to click on the clear browsing data option.
- Step 3: After that, the Clear browsing data pop-up window will open. From there, you can delete all the temporary files and download history along with cache data.
Conclusion
Clearing cache deletes the temporary files and data of a website and improves its performance of. If you want to increase the quality of user experience on your website, cleaning cache periodically is the best option. In case you have to host from these mentioned providers, use the corresponding methods to clean cache smoothly from your WordPress website. That’s all! Stay connected for more guides.
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