Page speed is important for better user experience and SEO. There are many caching plugins available in WordPress .
But among all the plugins, my favorites are WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache (W3TC). The main difference between these two plugins is that Super cache is easy to configure, while W3TC has too many options and requires a lot of configuration.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the W3 Total Cache plugin.
It’s very similar to WP Super Cache, but with more options. In particular, the W3 Total Cache plugin is really great if you plan on using a CDN .
To speed up loading times, I use Cloudflare on my blog network . To supplement this, I also tested the W3 Total Cache plugin.
This test was conducted on my WordPress hosting blog .
How to Install W3 Total Cache
Search for “W3 Total Cache” in the “Add New Plugin” section of your WordPress dashboard. Or you can download the plugin from here and upload it manually to your server.
- If you are new to WordPress, this guide will help you install plugins: How to install a WordPress plugin .
Note: Make sure to uninstall WP Super Cache plugin or any other WordPress cache plugin.
How to Configure W3 Total Cache
The setup options in W3 Total Cache are much more advanced than those in WP Super Cache. But don’t be confused! I’ll show you how to set it up on my blog, and you can take a look and copy these settings for your own site.
General
After installing and activating W3 Total Cache, go to Performance > General and enable everything you want to cache. Later, you can change individual settings and fine-tune your W3TC configuration.
When you’re done, click “Save All Settings.”
After making changes, click "Preview" to check if everything is OK. If everything is OK, click "Deploy" to make these settings take effect.
See pictures:
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Page Cache
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By default, all basic settings are selected. Check them and proceed to the next setting.
Zoom out
All settings in "Minify" are also plug-and-play.
But if you are not using a CDN, you may want to disable "Automatically upload modified files".
Database Cache
Browser Cache
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Extensions
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A cool feature of W3 Total Cache is that it supports extensions.
It provides extensions for some popular WordPress plugins and themes, such as Yoast SEO , Genesis, CloudFlare , and Feedburner.
How to integrate Google Page Speed with W3 Total Cache
The latest version of W3 Total Cache allows you to integrate with Google Page Speed to see the performance of your website. The faster your website is, the better it will rank in search engines.
In this guide, I will share how to enable Google Page Speed with W3 Total Cache.
I am assuming that you have already installed the W3 Total Cache plugin . If you are wondering why you should install it now, W3 Total Cache is a powerful WordPress caching plugin that helps you load your website faster.
After installing W3 Total Cache, go to the plugin settings and click on the “Miscellaneous” tab.
Click on 'Enable Google Page Speed Dashboard Widget'.
You need to enter the Page Speed API to enable this feature.
How to get Google Page Speed API?
Go to the Google APIs homepage and log in with your Google ID. Look for the "Page Speed Online API" option and turn it on.
Now click on the "API Access" tab on the left sidebar and you will see your API Key.
(Important: Do not share your API key with anyone.)
Copy the Google API Key to W3 Total Cache settings and click Save. It may take some time to see the results on the dashboard.
This is a very useful feature that can help you understand how your website is performing and what steps you can take to speed up your website.
How to Uninstall W3 Total Cache WordPress Plugin
Sometimes W3 Total Cache may misbehave due to hosting compatibility issues or incompatibilities with other plugins. In these cases, it is important to uninstall W3 Total Cache to ensure it does not cause problems.
It's also important to uninstall it correctly, otherwise you'll run into more problems in the future.
Sometimes W3 Total Cache interacts strangely with another current plugin and you might experience strange issues like 404 errors , or your entire blog might redirect to Install.php.
One possible solution to this problem is to uninstall W3 Total Cache.
Here is a quick tutorial on how to manually remove the W3 Total Cache plugin.
- First, delete all cache and deactivate the W3 Total Cache plugin.
- Delete the W3 Total Cache plugin from the Wp-content/plugins folder.
- Remove this line from Wp-config file - (define('WP_CACHE', true))
- Delete advanced-cache.php, db.php, wp-total-cache-config.php, and delete the entire w3tc folder from the Wp-content folder.
- Check your .htaccess file; if you see any code added by W3 Total Cache, remove it.
Check:
Download Genesis WordPress Theme
Many of the options in this plugin are plug-and-play. If you follow the tutorial, you should have no problem setting it up.
Using a caching plugin and a CDN will help drastically reduce your site’s loading time. A faster site means higher rankings and a better user experience. If you’re not caching and using a CDN, then you need to start doing so immediately.
Tell us: Which caching plugin are you using? Share your experiences in the comments below!
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