How to setup cache on your Wordpress website

So You have a Wordpress website and now you would like to setup a cache plugin to both speed up your website and to make it more sustainable. If thats the case You have come to the right article.

We will look into why caching is important, then find the right plug-in and last look at how to get started.

Why You should use a cache plugin in your Wordpress website

Websites are not like they used to. Years back a web page only contained html to provide the visitor with information. Today websites are full of design, colors and pictures which all look nice but also makes the website heavier. In general they say 150.000 words are equal to a relatively small picture and as you can imagine, a heavier page means more data being downloaded each time someone visits your website.

By adding a cache plugin to your website you allow each visitor to “download” parts of your website so that next time they visit they won’t have to download as much data. Having the data already saved in the browser first and foremost means faster loading speed, but it also means a more sustainable solution.

You see, every time data is requested both your device, access points between you and the websites server and the server itself requires energy. The amount of energy required is big and in fact the internet is pollution so much, that if it was a country it would be the 6th worst. We all need to participate to a better, faster and more sustainable/environmental internet, and you can help just by using a cache plugin.

A caching plugin can help you and your website with the following:

Faster loading speeds to returning visitors.
Your website becomes more sustainable since returning visitors will use cached files instead of requesting from the server.

WP-Optimize - Speeding up your website

WP-Optimize is one of the most popular cache plugins for Wordpress and best of all, it also comes in a free version that we will teach you to setup today.

WP-Optimize does not only cache scripts, pages and style sheets from your website, it also cleans up your database by removing unnecessary junk and compresses your images.

You can read more about WP-Optimize and its features here: https://getwpo.com

Installing WP-Optimize on your Wordpress website

As mentioned earlier in this article, we will go through the installation process of the free plugin version so that You can get started speeding up your website right away and at the same time make it a bit more environmental friendly.

Before running the installation and activating the plugin, we recommend to do a backup of your Wordpress website to make sure you have a way back in case of errors.

Log into your websites Wordpress admin panel and locate the Plugins section in the left menu.
Locate the search bar and search for WP-Optimize. Once you see the plugin, click install and wait for the plugin to arrive on your Wordpress website.
Once the plugin has finished installing you go to your plugins and click activate in order to activate the plugin and let the magic begin.
Locate the plugin in your admin panel to the left and go through it’s settings to ensure all of the desired features are activated. Once this step is done your Wordpress website will be ready to cache, clean and compress.

If you are interested in reading more, You can find lots of information about this plugin and user reviews at Wordpress’s website: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/#description

Author

Michael Andersen

I am a self-taught and highly passionate web developer currently living in Sweden, where I use my skills to make the internet a better place through ethical and sustainable web design.