If your site takes a long time to load, then this affects its position in the search results, reduces the amount of traffic and, in general, lowers the SEO of the site.
Slow loading sites have more bounces, fewer views, and a lower position in the SERPs.
WordPress is a dynamic system, meaning the page takes some time to generate, but you can improve the loading speed with a caching plugin. A paid or free caching plugin will speed up page loading.
Caching plugins create static copies of pages that are stored on the server and in the visitor’s browser, so the visitor does not have to wait for the original dynamic version of the page to be generated.
This reduces the load on the server, speeds up page loading, and the freed up resources allow the server to serve more visitors.
This article is an overview of the most popular caching plugins. All plugins are more or less easy to set up, which means that visitors will stay on your site longer.
WP SuperCache
W3 Total Cache
WP Fastest Cache
Hummingbird
LiteSpeed Cache
WP Rocket
Which plugin to choose
What is caching
Caching is a technology for temporary storage of information, cache is the temporary information itself or the place where it is stored.
When the first visitor visits the page, the caching plugin caches the dynamically generated page as a static html file.
When a second visitor visits the site, the server does not have to generate the page again. The plugin gives the visitor a ready-made html page from the cache.
The caching plugin saves dynamically generated html files and serves them from the server cache and from the browser cache as ready-made static html pages, instead of generating them again.
As a result, the site works faster. More about caching (1), (2).
How to choose the best caching plugin
It depends what you want from the plugin. Basic requirements for a caching plugin:
Power and functionality. Plugins have more or less functionality. If a plugin has browser caching, gzip compression, minification and merging, CDN integration, then this is a powerful plugin.
Simplicity and clarity. Do you want a plugin with simple settings, or an all-in-one with lots of settings.
Price. Like other plugins, cache plugins can be paid and free. Usually price means functionality, ease of setup and technical support.
Technical support. Some plugins have a helpdesk, forums, documentation, and so on. Some people may have support on wordpress.org, or not at all.
WP Super Cache is one of the most popular caching plugins for WordPress and is backed by Automattic. Part of Automattic developers are WordPress developers.
The plugin is free, downloaded over 2 million times. It has basic caching functions with minimal settings. Easily customizable and offers one of the best performance-to-effort ratios.
WP Super Cache serves site visitors with static page variations using mod_rewrite technology (faster than a regular PHP generated cache) and PHP. Choose your preferred option in the plugin settings. In version 1.5.8, these settings are called “Simple” and “Expert”.
The WP Super Cache plugin has a cache flush schedule where you can specify when and how often to flush the cache and expired pages, GZIP, cache prefetching, and CDN integration.
If you are a beginner, select Simple mode, check all the “Recommended” checkboxes, set up a schedule for clearing the cache and the plugin is ready to go.
Cache preloading and other functions – optional, the plugin is translated well, all explanations for the functions are clear and logical. The best option as a first plugin.
The plugin has built-in documentation, feature descriptions and a FAQ section on the official page, and a support forum where you can read about problems other users have with the plugin and how to solve them, or ask your own question. While in English.