What is Page Caching?

We use a method called page caching to improve performance for your website. Typically, any requested page will generate at least 80 database queries in order to build the HTML needed to display the page. These request include finding the path to all images, building the menu and loading up all the content for the page. With page caching enabled, the output is saved and stored as a static HTML file. The next time this page is requested, our web server will first check to see if there is an HTML version of the page. If so, that page is quickly served up to the site visitor.

The benefit for the user viewing a cached version of the page is that they can get the information they’re looking for much quicker. Page caching can improve response time by 75%. This is especially beneficial for high traffic websites which make use of database information in order to serve the page to the user. For sites which don’t include dynamic features or add new information often, this is an optimal way for the user to view the site quickly.

The disadvantage of page caching is that the user may not be viewing the most recent version of the page. There are limits for when a cached page is considered "fresh". Pages timeout and when they expire, then next request will run the full page load stack and rebuild a new HTML file. These settings very on each website and they are configured based on how your site is used.