A cache is a temporary storage area that provides fast access to previously used data or resources. Websites, browsers, and web applications use caching to improve load times and overall performance. In web development and online marketing, cache plays an important role in providing a faster and better user experience.
Types caching
- Browser cache: Here, data from visited websites is stored on the user's device. This enables the browser to load the required data faster when the website is visited again, so that loading times are reduced.
- Server cache: In this process, data is stored on the web server. This can be used, for example, with dynamically generated websites, such as those based on WordPress. Server caching preserves the generated HTML version of the website to load faster for repeated requests.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) Cache: This is a type of caching that distributes and stores web resources such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files on multiple servers around the world. This allows users to retrieve content faster and from servers that are geographically closer to them.
Caching in online marketing
In online marketing, caching has a direct impact on search engine optimization (SEO). Websites that load quickly provide a better user experience and are preferred by search engines like Google. Optimizing caching can shorten a website's loading time and improve its ranking in search results.
WordPress and caching
When developing websites with WordPress, caching is an important aspect. To optimize caching in WordPress, various plugins like WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket can be used. These plugins create static HTML files of dynamically generated WordPress pages that can be delivered from the server without having to re-run the PHP and database queries. The result is improved website loading time and performance.
