Rocket Still Recommends Caching Plugins – Though It’s Really About Optimization

It might seem odd for arguably the fastest WordPress hosting company available today that offers a highly specialized Enterprise-Level CDN to still recommend caching plugins. But this is about the nuance in how hosting works with websites and your computer’s browser. And though it seems weird, caching plugins are actually optimization plugins.

Before joining the team here, I used to own a Core Web Vitals agency and would refer all of my optimization clients to Rocket.net (as an affiliate), because it made my life way easier when they started on fast hosting before having to worry about what their vitals scores were.

I always try to drive home the point that website speed and experience are two very different things.

Rocket.net handles everything speed. Caching plugins handle experience, how the browser is instructed to handle everything loading on your site as the page is fully rendered.

Worried about LCP? Fast hosting with Rocket definitely helps with that when your TTFB is under 100ms

Does your website have an international audience? Rocket helps with global TTFB no matter where people live that visit your website, and definitely separates us from all the other commodity hosting providers out there.

Thats what website speed does for you, but let’s talk a little bit more about the different types of caching and what each does.

What is Caching?

A cache is a store or stash of something hidden away by definition. Sometimes it’s used in the context of loot as in a pirate’s booty. It’s pronounced like “cash” not “ca-shay” (which should help you in conversations with your Geek Squad and IT friends).

Like many words around computer operations, most people in the general population are aware of the terms even if they don’t exactly know what they mean or how it relates to the performance of their website. Generally, aside from your computer’s CPU cache, there are three types of cache: browser, site, and server.

Browser cache is what your browser stores — you know, the fun stuff like passwords in Safari’s Keychain or Chrome’s settings. Browser cache is more than passwords and cookies. It also stores downloads, browsing history, autofill settings, and what we’re talking about: images and site data. 

This means when you’ve used Chrome to visit Rocket.net, for example, the browser will save images and data so the next time you visit that page, the browser serves (renders) the page quickly! (If you’ve been told to “clear your cache,” to see changes on a website, for example, your WordPress Developer is most likely referring to this type of cache.)

Site cache happens in your database-driven website. If you’re using a Content Management System like WordPress, then each webpage consists of server and PHP calls. So, data caching or site caching will render each page into a static HTML page for easier callbacks. When your website’s cache is optimized, this makes the user experience for website visitors frictionless. We love frictionless experiences on the web.

“Data caching will help your website or application load faster giving your users a better experience. It does this by avoiding extra trips to the DB to retrieve data sets that it knows has not changed.”

Ironistic

Server cache happens on the machines where your website is stored. Typically, server cache happens on your web host. This might also include Content Delivery Network (CDN) caching.

“When a user requests content from a website using a CDN, the CDN fetches that content from an origin server, and then saves a copy of the content for future requests. Cached content remains in the CDN cache as long as users continue to request it.”

Cloudflare

Confused? What Does a Caching Plugin Do?

The first thing to understand about WordPress caching plugins is what they do. Caching plugins aren’t caching plugins; they’re optimization plugins. This may be a nuanced distinction but we think it is an important one. Caching has to do with storage. Optimization is providing instructions on what to do with everything trying to load on your site that might impact the user experience.

“Caching is about storing elements of your site so they don’t have to be downloaded from the host anew every time a page/post is requested. Optimization is about reducing the speed drags.”

BlogAid

You may have seen GTMetrix suggest using a plugin like WP-Rocket to eliminate render-blocking resources in the case that your site features a cumbersome slider, for example.

Rocket can instantly load all the files and components of your slider without issue, but it doesn’t mean your browser knows exactly what to do with them. This gets even trickier on mobile devices!

Sliders can be beautiful and potentially add a ton of value to the aesthetic of your website, but they also carry of ton of bloat behind the scenes to make them load properly for your visitors.

This is one of the points of optimization that caching plugins perform for your website, it tells your browser that this might be a problem and here’s how to handle it.

If you care about the customer’s experience (CX) or how they feel using your website (UX) then you’ll care about caching. Most small businesses want people to find their websites, so SEO is a big factor. Search Engine Optimization is about making it easy for people to find and easily experience your website, regardless of where they are or what device they’re using. A good customer experience is a good SEO score.

Let’s break it down in an analogy. 

Think of Caching as a Constantly Changing Restaurant Menu

Imagine you’re at a new restaurant with your friend. The first time you go there, they give you a menu. Only, the restaurant is more popular than he imagined and things are getting 86’d while you’re studying the menu to decide what to order.

There are a few ways to approach these changes, as a restaurant goes viral. Your servers can verbally tell patrons at each table what is off the menu. There can also be a sign at the entrance of the restaurant with everything off the menu. But for this analogy, think of a paper menu as a website you’re visiting. 

The first time you sit down, the server hands you the menu. As you’re trying to decide, the pineapple upside-down pancakes are sold out. (That really sucks, because that’s the item that drew you to that spot.) So a new menu is printed and handed to you. The old menu is taken from your hand. This happens again with the avocado benedict, and so on.

What would your experience be like if the menu was printed at your table? Instant, right? What if the menu was printed in the back? Slower. What if the menu was printed across the street or even the next city over? You’d get tired of waiting and you’d leave.

Instead, the browser stores your cache. So the next time you go to the restaurant, the menu is at the table. Server cache with an enterprise CDN will do this for you. Their browser won’t have a cache of your website until they visit your site for the first time.

Wait. Do I Need a Caching Plugin on Rocket.net?

You don’t need a caching plugin on the Rocket.net platform for high performance. Our Enterprise CDN and full-page caching will serve your portfolio of client sites well. In other words, you don’t need an additional caching plugin to benefit from our CDN.

“To speed up the process on subsequent cache misses, a caching plugin will be beneficial to reduce PHP use on cache misses, because PHP is inherently slow. The result is that your site will still be performant even if the pages are not cached in the CDN.”

Ben Gabler

With that said, many Rocket.net customers prefer to optimize their websites even further by using caching plugins to help with their Core Web Vitals.

You can visit the WordPress repository and find a suitable caching plugin that best meets your needs, or you can login to your Rocket account and get any of them directly from our control panel for added convenience.

Get the Best of Both Worlds!
Optimize Your Website with Rocket.net and a Caching Plugin

Yes, your website can benefit from the Rocket.net platform in both speed and performance. But that doesn’t mean you also don’t have a use case for a caching plugin too. Have questions? Let us know. We want you to think of us as an extension of your team. That’s why we believe Rocket.net is the best bet for your website!