Website acts as a business’ online presence; it is essential to leave a good first impression to website visitors to keep them coming back to you. Website speed influences users experience, thus it is important to ensure website is optimized.
There are several reasons why your website takes some time to load. It could be anything, but the most common factors are:
- Heavy CSS and JavaScript use
- Large image sizes
- Not using browser cache
- Too many widgets and plugins
- Hotlinking images and other resources from slow servers
- Traffic volume
- Older browsers
- Slow network connection (mobile devices)
One of the ways to overcome this issue is by enabling website cache.
What is website cache?
Cache is the process of storing copies of website files in a temporary storage location so that the website can be accessed faster. This is important to improve overall website speed and performance which is essential to user experience.
For WordPress websites, web administrators may install cache plugins on their site to enhance their website speed. There are many WordPress cache plugins available (both free and premium), choosing the correct one will significantly boost website performance.
For WordPress sites hosted on LiteSpeed Web Server, LiteSpeed Cache (LSCache) plugin is highly recommended to accelerate and improve website performance.
LSCache plugin is an all-in-one optimization plugin that includes image and database optimization service, critical CSS generation service, automated cache crawler and more. LSCache plugin is free; it can be installed easily from your WordPress admin dashboard.
How to Install and Enable LiteSpeed Cache Plugin
1. Login to your WordPress admin dashboard and click on “Add New” under Plugins section.
2. Search for LiteSpeed Cache, click “Install Now” and “Activate”.
3. LiteSpeed Cache section will appear on the left-hand panel after refreshing the admin dashboard.
4. Once the plugin is installed, navigate to LiteSpeed Cache > Cache and set Enable Cache to ON under Cache tab.
The cache is now enabled and you are good to go!
The default settings preconfigured in the plugin works for majority of the sites right away; you can stop at this stage, but feel free to follow the guideline below if you wish to optimize more settings in the plugin.
Basic LiteSpeed Cache (LSCache) Settings
Below are the basic settings in LSCache, they are totally optional, but enabling them may significantly improve website speed and performance.
1. Automatically Upgrade
Set to ON to upgrade the plugin automatically each time new version is available. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > General.
2. Server IP
This setting is used by Critical CSS generator. Providing site IP address will eliminate overhead involved in DNS and CDN lookup services. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > General.
3. Browser Cache
Controls browser cache on user’s device. Set to ON to enable it. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Cache > Browser tab.
4. CSS Minify
If set to ON, it will remove unnecessary characters from CSS files. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization > CSS Settings.
5. JS Minify
If set to ON, it will remove unnecessary characters from JS files. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization > JS Settings.
6. HTML Minify
If set to ON, it will remove unnecessary characters from HTML code. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization > HTML Settings.
7. Lazy Load Images
Images will be loaded when browser is scrolled to them. Enabling this setting may improve website loading speed, but it may impact user experience upon visiting the website. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization > Media Settings.
8. Auto Request Cron
Set to ON if you want to automatically request optimizations for all newly uploaded images. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Image Optimization > Image Optimization Settings.
9. Auto Pull Cron
Set to ON if Auto Request Cron is enabled. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Image Optimization > Image Optimization Settings.
10. Object Cache
Allows you to control an external object cache. Only set to ON if it is supported on the server and select between Memcached or Redis. Settings can be found under LiteSpeed Cache > Cache > Object tab.
LSCache also supports optimization on WooCommerce sites, however web administrators may need to configure additional settings to ensure the websites are working properly.
Detailed explanation on LSCache functions and settings can be found on LSCache documentation site.
Summary / Conclusion
Website caching plays important role in website performance. With proper cache configuration, it will significantly improve website speed and reduce server load. This can be achieved easily on WordPress sites by installing cache plugin.
Although there are many cache plugins available in WordPress repository, LSCache serves as all-in-one optimization plugin and works best on LiteSpeed Web Server.
LSCache plugin is best in use with our WordPress Hosting, which has been optimized for WordPress sites as it comes with LiteSpeed Web Server.