In this short tutorial, I will show you a technique or method that we developers use to make your website faster, and this is thanks to our website's cache. One of the first things we developers always do on a shared host is install a full-page caching plugin called WP Super Cache.
IMPORTANT: Some shared hosts now offer caching outside of WordPress. If your shared hosting plan includes it, I recommend using that caching layer instead of the WP Super Cache plugin. It will be faster.
But if they do not have a hosting caching layer, I recommend using WP Super Cache, created by Automattic (the creators of WordPress.com).
WP Super Cache is an excellent plugin that allows you to make your website faster for users. It does this by maintaining copies of the HTML that WordPress normally renders on each request.
Then, when it captures an identical request, it sends the stored HTML and prevents WordPress from going through the page creation process.
Therefore, fewer database queries, less HTML creation, and fewer plugin hooks being triggered make the response much faster.
How to start using WP Super Cache?
- From your site's WordPress dashboard, select ‘Plugins’ and then ‘Add New’ from the left-hand menu.
- Search for ‘WP Super Cache’ in the search box on the right-hand side.
- Click ‘Install Now’ when you find the listing for “WP Super Cache” by Automattic.
Click “Activate Plugin”.
You will be redirected to the ‘Installed Plugins’ page. Click the “plugin administration page” link at the top.
Enable caching and click ‘Update Status’. This is what makes WP Super Cache actually start capturing your HTML and returning it instead of WordPress building the pages.
That's it! With this, your website will be faster. For more information on how to troubleshoot WP Super Cache, please refer to the plugin documentation on WordPress.org.
Still have doubts?
Do you need help with a web project? Don't hesitate to contact me. I develop complete and customized solutions with WordPress and PHP, using modern tools and processes, HTML, CSS, SCSS, PHP, JavaScript, Bootstrap, and more. Ready? Send me a message and let's talk about your web project!