If you are a WordPress user then you may already aware of W3 Total Cache Plugin, Which is the top free cache plugin for WordPress website.
If you are looking for a free cache plugin then I will suggest you two plugins, first is W3 Total Cache and another one is WP Super Cache. They both have free options which are good if you are a beginner.
But if you can afford to pay for the premium cache plugin then I highly recommend you to go with the WP Rocket.
The one difference between these two free cache plugins is, WP Super Cache is easy to set up and W3 Total cache has a lot of settings that’s why beginners think it is very hard to configure.
But when I configured for my site, I did not found is very tough. So today. I am sharing which you how you can setup W3 Total Cache Plugin on your WordPress website.
Note: I am not using W3 Total Cache on my this blog, I was using it in the initial stage of my blog. WP Rocket is the plugin which is managing the cache in my blog.
What Is W3 Total Cache?
W3 Total Cache is one of the best free WordPress cache plugins which has more than 1 million active installs and have 4.5 stars rating in WordPress repository.
W3 Total Cache helps in improving the SEO and user experience of your WordPress site by increasing the website loading speed.
It improves the loading speed by leveraging the power of the content delivery network and the latest best practices.
W3 Total Cache is a free WordPress cache plugin, that’s why it is the most famous plugin among the beginners who start blogging in a low budget.
Install W3 Total Cache Plugin
Note: Before installing the plugin, make sure to deactivate your any other cache plugin if you are using any.
Go to your WordPress Admin Dashboard and then Plugins>Add New and search for W3 Total Cache.
Install that plugin and activate.
If you are new to WordPress and don’t know how to install a plugin then read: How to Install A WordPress Plugin?
Setup W3 Total Cache
Now you have successfully installed this plugin and let’s move to the main step which is How to Setup?
It is not as much tough as you are thinking, You only need to follow all below’s steps to set up it. Basically, important settings are already done which you don’t need to change but you are to activate some caching options and have a look at default settings as well.
Go to the Performance>General Settings, there you can see the Page Cache maybe it is already checked if not then check that and click on the Save all settings.
Then Scroll down and you can see Minify settings area, This will make your website load faster by minifying your CSS and JS files. Enable it and leave other options default.
This is another a very important option, It will reduce your post, page, and feed creation time. Enable it by checking the box.
Object Cache, Enable it by checking the box and scroll down for another option.
Another option is Browser Cache which is already enabled if not then make sure to enable it. This will reduce your server load and decrease response time by using the cache available in site visitor’s web browsers.
Page Cache
Now go to Performance>Page Cache and check all options which I have highlighted in the below image. And click save all settings, leave all other settings as default.
Minify
Go to Performance>Minify and do the same settings as shown in the image, leave others as default.
Database Cache
Do the same settings as shown in the image below.
Browser Cache
Do the same settings which I have highlighted in the image and leave others as default.
Extensions
This is one of the best features of W3 Total Cache plugin, It offers extensions of top WordPress plugins & themes like Yoast SEO, CloudFlare & Feedburner.
Activate Extensions which you want to use by clicking the Activate link.
Integrate Cloudflare with W3 Total Cache
I have already shared how to setup Cloudflare CDN? if you did not read it yet then must-read: Cloudflare CDN: Setup Free CDN For Your WordPress Website
Create a new account or if you have already then you are ready for this task.
Go to Performance>Extensions and activate Cloudflare and then you can see a Setting link there so click on that. On the next page, you will see an Authorize button so click that.
Then you can see a pop-up which is asking for email and API button.
Now go to CloudFlare.com and log in your account first, then search for the Get Your API Key on the dashboard like shown in the image.
On the next page, Scroll down to the API Key section then you can see Global API Key and click on View API key.
Then a pop-up will appear with your API key, copy and paste it into the Cloudflare setting of W3 Total Cache plugin.
Paste your API Key and enter your email in the box. and click on Next button.
It’s done, you have successfully connected with the Cloudflare.
Now you understood how easy is to configure W3 Total Cache. This is the best plugin for WordPress users to manage caches on their website.
If you like this post and found it helpful then share it with your WordPress friends. Or if you are facing any issues in configuring the plugin then feel free to share with us in the comment section.
