Website Cache Explained: How it Makes Your Site Faster

<p>“Cache” is a term coined back in 1967 by IBM System Journal’s editor Lyle R. Johnson. It works on a simple principle: providing temporary storage for computed content to be accessed later. &nbsp;It acts as a memory bank, making it easy to access saved data rather than re-downloading and processing it every time you visit a website.</p> <p>If I ask you what 5x4 is, you’ll know the answer is 20. You didn’t need to work out the math - you’ve done this multiplication so often that you no longer need to. You just remember the answer. &nbsp;That is how caching works.</p> <p>Websites are viewed thousands or sometimes millions of times per month. &nbsp;Each time a browser requests a web page, the server must do a bunch of calculations – pulling posts and images, calculating who’s on air now, deciding if the events are current, displaying the correct banner ads, weather information, and so on. &nbsp;Cache stores these calculations and presents them with a much faster web experience.</p> <p>Today, we will cover different levels of cache and why they benefit your radio station website.</p> <p>For more detailed show notes, visit <a href="https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/website-cache-explained-how-it-makes-your-site-faster" target="_blank">https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/website-cache-explained-how-it-makes-your-site-faster</a>. &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Browser Caching: </strong>Browser caching allows your browser to store these files for specific amounts of time, so it doesn’t need to retrieve them every time you visit the website.</p> <p><strong>Server Cache: </strong>Server cache speeds up websites for everyone, not just for returning visitors. &nbsp;When a browser requests a webpage, the server takes time to process the information. After that first request, the server “remembers” the processed content and delivers it faster to subsequent visitors.</p> <p><strong>Downsides to Cache</strong></p> <p>However great the caching system is, no one is entirely safe from cache-related issues. &nbsp;Cache issues can s