Caching in the modern web world is a must-have. It speeds up performance on pages, especially initial loading time so your users see content without delay.
But caching can be a double-edged sword: the same “pre-loading” that caching relies on can lead to updated content not showing up on your pages, or can prevent new functionality/plugins from working immediately. This may be noticed on dynamic content, or content with CAPTCHAs.
This article will review the different steps you can take to check if caching may be the cause of the issue you’re experiencing, the steps you can take to try resetting your cache, and then finally how you can connect with Cornershop Support to clear deeper caches.
How to test if caching may be the issue
The best way to check if caching may be an issue is to open the page in a private/incognito browser session (to use a ‘fresh’ non-cookie’d browsing experience), while appending a ‘cache-buster’ string to the URL (to avoid any elements being served via caching).
To open a private/incognito browser session (instructions for Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari)
In your private browsing session, add a ? (question mark) to the end of your URL, and add any random string of text.
For example: https://cornershopcreative.com/team/ becomes https://cornershopcreative.com/team/?cachetest
If viewing the page in a private browsing session with a cache-busting URL modification results in you seeing the content you expected, then signs point to caching as the culprit. (If not, reach out to Cornershop Creative’s support team for an expert investigation.)
Clearing the Cache
You’ve performed the caching test above and you’re ready to clear the cache to see if it addresses your missing content. The good news is that clearing your cache will never break your site or cause other issues, except a temporary slowdown as the cache is rebuilt.
If you make design or code changes on your site, you will most likely need to clear your used CSS, along with all cache layers, to ensure all changes are properly displayed.
We recommend clearing cache layers in the following order: theme, third-party plugins, Perfmatters (Clear Used CSS), hosting provider, and CDN.
Check the list below for examples of the caching plugins that may be installed on your site, depending on your hosting provider and site setup, and screenshots of where to clear the cache - then clear away! If you have multiple, you may need to clear each one.
PerfMatters:
Autoptimize: Find the “Clear CSS/JS Cache” option at the top of your admin bar - look for a colored circle (red means it’s probably overdue to be cleared!) next to the word “Autoptimize.”
WPRocket: Find the “Clear and reload cache” option under the “WP Rocket” menu at the top of your admin bar.
Cloudflare: On your left-hand admin menu, hover over “Settings” and click “Cloudflare.”
On the following page, scroll down and click the “Purge Cache” option:
Pantheon: On your left-hand admin menu, hover over “Settings” and click the “Pantheon Page Cache” option in the sub-menu.
On the next page, click the “Clear Cache” button:
Kinsta: In the upper right of the top admin bar, hover over the “Clear Caches” menu item and click “Clear All Caches” (which includes both “Site Cache” and “Object Cache”)
Alternatively, on the left admin menu, click the “Kinsta Cache” item and on the next page, click the “Clear All Caches” button:
The issue isn’t fixed - now what?
There may be a deeper layer of caching in use on your site at the hosting or CDN (content delivery network) level.
The Cornershop Support team is available to look further into clearing any deeper caches - submit a support request to the team and we’ll be glad to quickly investigate and clear caches that may be applicable to your site.