Cache feature

Discover the power of URLsLab’s Cache feature as an indispensable tool in website optimization. This article breaks down this feature’s functionality and explores its impact on enhancing your website’s speed, user experience, and SEO ranking.

What is the cache feature?

The Cache feature in the URLsLab WordPress plugin is a sophisticated tool that enhances website speed by controlling and customizing the caching behavior of your website. It allows users to set cache validity duration, optimize site speed, improve user experience and SEO rankings, and ensure superior site performance and accessibility.

How it works?

The Cache feature of URLsLab works by storing static versions of your website’s pages. Normally, when a user visits a page on your website, a request is sent to your website’s server to fetch the needed information from the database. This process can be time-consuming, especially if many users are accessing your site simultaneously.

However, with the Cache feature, the system creates and stores a static version of a page after the first request. When subsequent users access the same page, the stored version is served up, bypassing the need for database queries. This drastically improves the speed at which your website can load pages and content.

You can specify the duration of cache validity, which is the time a cached version of a page is stored before being refreshed or updated. You use this parameter as a measure of how fresh your content is and how quickly it is served to your users.

Besides page caching, URLsLab also features link preloading and browser prefetching. Link preloading works by pre-fetching the contents of a link when a user hovers over it or during user interaction, speeding up the browsing process.

With browser prefetching, content is automatically downloaded and cached in response to potential user inquiries, enhancing your website’s performance.

Beyond that, URLsLab supports integration with Amazon’s CloudFront, a popular Content Delivery Network (CDN) service. When enabled, your website’s content is served from a network of servers spread across the globe. This means that a user’s request is served by the server closest to them, significantly improving page load times, regardless of the user’s location.

In other words, URLsLab’s Page Cache feature enhances your website’s efficiency by managing the retention period of your webpages’ static versions, initiating link preloads and DNS prefetching for accelerated loading, and leveraging Amazon’s CloudFront to facilitate content delivery proximate to the user’s locale, thereby elevating the speed.

You can also enable CloudFront invalidation, purging CloudFront cache items before they expire.

What are the benefits of URLsLab’s cache feature?

Let’s look at the three main benefits the Cache feature can bring to your website.

It enhances website speed

URLsLab’s Cache feature helps to store static versions of web pages, eliminating the need for frequent database queries. This significantly improves the site’s speed, ensuring quick and seamless access for users.

It elevates the user experience

Increased site speed typically leads to enhanced user engagement, resulting in more time spent on your site and higher conversions. A fast-loading website translates to smoother, more enjoyable browsing for users.

It improves your SEO rankings

Search engines favor fast-loading websites. Therefore, by using URLsLab’s Cache feature, you can significantly improve your site’s SEO rankings. This can enhance your website’s visibility in search engine results, attracting more organic traffic and the potential conversion of casual browsers into loyal users.

How to test the Cache feature?

First, access the URLsLab plugin and find the cache module. To add a new rule, click on the Add New Cache Rule button.

Continue by setting cache validity.

Once you have done that, it is time to set your conditions. These will determine the behavior of the Cache feature.

When all the conditions are set, you can move on to the categorization. Here, you can add tags for better organization of your cache rules.

Once you’re happy with the cache rule configuration, simply click on the Add New Cache Rule button.

Tips to use the cache feature

Here is a quick list of tips that will help you fully utilize the power of URLsLab’s Cache feature.

Test your cache rules: Make sure to test your cache rules thoroughly. Clear all cache data from your site before enabling new rules, and then test your website’s speed and functionality to ensure that caching is working effectively.
Tailor cache validity to your website’s needs: Consider your site’s update frequency when setting cache validity. If you frequently update your content, setting a shorter cache validity duration is advisable. But for static pages that don’t change often, a longer cache validity can be more efficient.
Keep an eye on the website performance: Don’t forget to regularly monitor your website’s speed and performance. URLsLab Cache feature is a powerful tool to optimize your website, but it should be used in conjunction with consistent monitoring and website maintenance.