Are you looking to install the W3 Total Cache plugin or do you want to configure the W3 Total Cache plugin?

We often receive compliments from users on how fast our websites load. Everyone wants to know the secret behind a fast loading WordPress website. Aside from a good web host and well coded plugins, you need to make sure that you are using the cached appropriate.

In our configuration, we use the plugin W3 Total Cache.

Due to a high volume of demand, we decided to create a step by step guide on how to install and configure the W3 Total Cache plugin.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install W3 Total Cache and configure it correctly to maximize the benefits.

Before you start, we strongly recommend that you check your website performance using Google Page Speed Or Pingdom Tools. This will give you a before and after comparison of your website loading speed.

What is W3 Total Cache?

W3 Total Cache and the WordPress Plugin the fastest and most comprehensive WordPress performance optimization. Trusted by many popular websites including: AT&T, Mashable, Smashing Magazine, and millions more. W3 Total Cache improves the user experience of your website by increasing the performance of your server, the cached of all aspects of your website, reducing download times

Installing WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache

Before installing W3 Total Cache, you must uninstall all other plugins from cached (for example WP Super Cache ). If you don't do this first, you will experience issues activating it.

Log into your WordPress admin panel as Administrator, using syntax that looks like this:

In the left menu bar, hover your mouse over the menu Extensions". In the menu that appears, select the option " Add "

Locate the search bar on the screen " Add " and enter "W3 Total Cache", In the results, locate the plugin named "W3 Total Cache. "

Click on the link « install now«  to install

 At the end of the installation you can directly activate your plugin on the screen that will be displayed by clicking on "Activate"

 Settings and configuration of the W3 Total Cache plugin

W3 Total Cache is a very powerful plugin that has tons of options. It could be a good thing or a bad thing, for those who know how to use these options.

For most beginner bloggers using WordPress, these options could be quite difficult and confusing.

We will visit each of these options in detail, so that you can properly configure W3 Total Cache. Let's start with the general settings (General Settings).

General Settings

You can go to the General Settings page by clicking on the menu button performance in your WordPress admin panel. This is where you will configure the basic parameters of the plugin. Make sure you're on the general settings page.

What is Page Caching? "

The first option you see on this page is the "Cache page". It is responsible for creating static pages in the cache for each page that is loaded, so it will not be dynamically loaded each time it is loaded.

By using this option, you will considerably decrease the loading time of your pages. Refer to the image below to see how the "page cache" works:

As you can normally see when a user comes to your website, WordPress runs PHP scripts and MySQL database queries to find the requested page. Then PHP analyzes the data and generates a page. This process uses server resources.

If you activate the "Page caching", this will allow you to decrease the load on the server and just show a copy of the cached page when the user requests that page again.

For shared hosting that most beginners use, the method Disk: Enhanced is highly recommended. You should also enable the checkbox " Page Cache and save the settings by clicking the button "Save All Settings".

For most people, that's all you need to do is "Page caching". Since this guide is intended for novice users, we will therefore not discuss the advanced “page cache” settings because the default options are sufficient.

We will also pass Section "Minify", "Database caching", et "Object layout". The reason is simple: all servers provide optimal results with these settings.

In the next option we will talk about "Browser Caching".

What is browser caching?

Every time a user visits a website, their browser downloads all images, CSS, JavaScript, and other static files to a temporary folder to improve the user experience. That way when the same user is still accessing that page, it loads much faster because all the static files are in the browser cache.

The option « Browser cachingr«  of W3 Total Cache sets a time limit for the browser cache.

Considering that you don't change your logo every day, having static files like it in cache for 24 hours doesn't hurt you. Just activate the checkbox "Browser cache". Under the browser cache option and click on button " Save all settings"

Once you've done that, then go visit "Browser Cache" By going on Performance »Browser Cache for more settings.

You will see the following screen appear:

As you can see in the image above, we have checked almost everything except for 404 errors. Then save the settings by clicking on the button " Save all settings"

Conclusion

Here! Your plugin W3 Total Cache has been configured correctly. This tutorial is therefore finished! We hope this will help you configure the W3 Total Cache plugin on your WordPress websites. To learn more about setting up the CDN, we recommend the following tutorial: How to configure Cloudflare on your WordPress blog. If you think that we have forgotten some important details, do not hesitate to leave us your Comments in our section reserved for them.

However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.

And if you have any concerns in this matter, let's meet again to discuss it. But meanwhile, share this article on your different social networks.   

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