Have You Done The Best W3 Total Cache Settings To Speed Up Your Blog?
October 25th, 2014 | by Ravi Chahar || 52 Comments |
You may always read about increasing the speed of your website but do know any plugin to do it for you? Let me tell you that W3 Total Cache plugin increases the speed of your website and decreases page loading time.
There are many caching plugins and many web hosting companies are providing their own super cache. You know all have their own quality.
When bloggers think about using this plugin then the main problem is how to configure W3 Total Cache plugin? What is the best setting of w3 total cache? Beginners get confused with these questions.
With this post, I am going to tell you about installation and configuration of this caching plugin.
How to install W3 Total Cache?
First of all, you need to log in to your WordPress admin area. After that seeking for plugins in “add new” by typing “W3 Total Cache” and you will find this plugin at the first place.
You just need to click “install plugin” and then further after accepting the installation by clicking on “ok” you have to activate the plugin. If you face any problem in installation then you can know how to install a plugin?
How to configure W3 Total Cache properly?
After installing this plugin you have to open its settings by going to performance->general settings. A new window will open in front of you where you will see many settings including page cache, browser cache and more.
Many boxes will be there to do the best w3 total cache settings. You need to select and deselect the boxes based on the type of setting .
1). General :- It is recommended not to select this option because this is used when you want to select all the setting of this plugin. But all the settings are not worthy to enable for your blog. There is an another option using which you can check this plugin at your blog. You can see the preview after doing all the settings of this plugin.
2). Page Cache :- This setting helps you to decrease the response time of your website as written under the option. You must know that when someone to open any page of your website then WordPress analyze PHP scripts, MySQL queries and many other codes from the database.
It takes a lot of time for the server to provide the proper response. Enabling “page cache” your users will see a cached page shown by this plugin because it skips all the steps of the query and shows the cached page to your readers.
It will for sure decrease loading time of your website. Most of the bloggers use shared server so it’s good to select ” Disk:Enhanced” option under “Page cache method”.
3). Minify :- Many people get confused and don’t use this option in this plugin because it reduces the load time of your website by decreasing the size and number of files of CSS and JS automatically.
It removes unnecessary data from HTML, CSS feed, and posts to reduce the load time. You can enable this option only by selecting “auto” option in the “Minify Mode“.
If you face any problem with the appearance of your website or with the functioning of any other plugin then it is recommended not to use “Minify” setting.
Many bloggers have experienced that sometime after enabling this setting CSS doesn’t work fine. You may have the different position of the buttons you have at your website. So if you face such kind of problems then no need to enable this option.
4). Database Cache :- It helps you to reduce post, page and feed creation time. But one thing you must keep in your mind that if you are using any CDN then you must disable this option.
5). Object Cache :- This option is used for highly dynamic websites which have more posts near to thousands. It is expected that this option is suitable for the websites which have more than 500 posts. Sometime after enabling this option this plugin may create issues with your website. So it’s better to disable it.
6). Browser Cache :- When you open any page of your website then your web browser downloads all the CSS files and JavaScripts and many other files to provide a better interface to its user.
By enabling “browser cache” W3 Total Cache” sets the time limit on Browser cache ensuring you better user experience. It reduces server load. It decreases response time when your visitor opens your website from their web browser. So it’s good to enable this option.
7). CDN :- This option can be enabled if you have already bought any CDN for your website otherwise keep it disabled.
8). Many other settings are under which are not worthy to enable. But in the last, you must keep an eye on the “Miscellaneous ” where you should enable only two options from all.
- Enable Google Page Speed dashboard widget
- Verify rewrite rules
Rest of the option shown should remain disable.
Lastly, you don’t need to enable “Debug Mode”. Just remember when you do settings for any particular cache option then don’t forget to save settings with them.
If you want to check whether W3 Total cache plugin is working or not then you can check it but seeing the source code of your website. You just need to do right click anywhere on your website and then click on “view page source” and a new tag will open where last lines will show you the working of this plugin as shown in the screenshot.
Are you ready to install W3 Total cache plugin at your website?
I hope after going through this post you have become well aware of the best W3 Total cache settings which can be used properly.
Bloggers should use this plugin to increasing the speed of their website. It may help you to reduce the loading time of your website. Above settings are used in general which works great. But still, if there is any problem then you can ask me.:)
Hi Ravi,
Thanks a lot for a very useful post! I have been using W3 Total Cache and love the results. It has a great effect to speed up my website and I cannot imagine not having a caching plugin. I really like how you went through the settings in your post. I think that the vast number of settings in the plugin can be overwhelming and to know which one to switch on or off can be a challenge. I have minify turned off too as you suggest because it was causing problems with my blog’s CSS.
I do have the database cache turned on and I use Cloudflare as a CDN. I will have to experiment by turning the database cache off and seeing if it further speeds up my site. Do you see a decrease in speed if this is turned on with a CDN?
Thanks again!
Harish
Hi Harish,
Off course bloggers can’t imagine their blog without any caching plugin. Most of bloggers use w3 total cache plugin for caching of their blog which helps them to increase the speed of their blog. With the use of these setting you can have better use of this plugin. Though it differs with the type of websites but still these are some setting which can be beneficial.
If you have enabled database cache option and its working good then you may keep it. But if you CDN then there is no need to do it because CDn will do it for you and you know two similar things can create problems. I have checked it and it doesn’t effect much on website speed.
Thanks for your wonderful input.
Have an awesome week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Hey Ravi,
Thanks for writing this tutorial on how to setup and decrease a blog load time using W3 total cache.
I use this same plugin on one of my blogs, the resulting speed of the blog is awesome.
Although, i have seen many people complain about this plugin that it sometimes conflict with other wordpress plugins.
I don’t know if you have experienced this in person?
Thanks and have a nice day ahead.
-Oloyede Jamiu
Hi Jamiu,
There are many caching plugins but w3 total cache plugin shows the best results. I have checked another plugin but that was not good enough. You are right. Many people face problem with this plugin because if you do any wrong setting of this plugin then it can harm CSS of your website. Your other plugins may not work fine. But its settings are good then it gives amazing service and your website speed increases. Most of people get problem after enabling minify settings which decreases the size of CSS files. Bloggers should know about the right settings.
Thanks for your valuable comment.
Enjoy your rest of the week.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
A very informative article on increasing the speed of our website where people use WordPress as a platform for their website.
After reading your article, I wish I too should have my own site soon.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Rajaraman,
You will find many caching plugins in the WordPress directory but w3 total cache is really great in its work.
It will increase the speed of your website if you have any.
When you will start to use your WordPress website at that time you will need this plugin.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Enjoy your weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
Amazing stuff. Newbies always find the way to increase their site speed at any cost. But what? they survive to get it, but…. why? due to the lack of research and having very few knowledge about what are the best ways to increase site speed.
I’m sure those newbie bloggers will take maximum advantage of this post where you’ve mentioned all steps in a simple way.
Thank you for sharing!
Hey Mustafa,
You are right. Beginners try their best to increase the speed of their website and search for many plugins with with the lack of knowledge they fail to do it correctly. Bloggers should know about the plugins which can work fine for their blog and help them to improve their website.
Using w3 total cache bloggers can get better results. they can improve their website speed.
W3 Total cache is an amazing caching plugin which handles cache of your blog.
Thanks for your kind words.
Have a great weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi
It is no news that configuring the W3tc is not easy for the non techies. This tutorial is great and it makes the configuration look easy. It reminds me just recently when I wanted to configure W3tc on my blog, I had to look for posts that go through the process. Wish I had seen this the. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ikechi,
There are many bloggers who seek for the best tutorial for the configuration of w3 total cache. Bloggers should know the correct settings because this plugin can harm your blog if you don’t use its right settings.
I am glad that you have found this post useful. Hope it will help others too.
Thanks for your kind words.
Enjoy your week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Super helpful Ravi.
I don’t have W3 Total cache, I have WP super cache which doesn’t really have much in the way of options. Outside of that do you by any chance know the difference between the two?
Liz ?
Hi Liz,
You may find many caching plugins and W3 Total Cache and WP super cache are two of them. In WP super cache there are not so many options to use but still its a good caching plugin. But I have used W3 Total Cache plugin at my blog and somehow it helps to reduce the page loading time and improves website speed. The only difference between these two plugins is their options. Though they work for the same thing but W3 Total Cache do it more efficiently if you use it with right settings.
Thanks for dropping your wonderful input.
Enjoy your rest of the week.:)
~Ravi
It’s good that you made a tutorial for this plugin. I had so much trouble with it at one point. Other people have published suggested setting for it but they don’t update them as the plugin changes. Yours in the simplest I’ve seen.
~Lea
Hey Lea,
Like you I have also faced problems with this plugin. You should know that if you do wrong settings for this plugin then it can break CSS of your blog which can harm the appearance of your blog. So its better to know the right settings.
And for sure of you use it correctly then it will improve your website speed.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Enjoy your day ahead.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
I guess the W3 Total Cache is a nice plugin as people have said, but it’s quite unfortunate that I can’t install plugins to my blog as I use the blogger blogging platform. Although I’m thinking of comming over to the wordpress world soon. ?
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Larry,
You will find many plugins when you will switch to WordPress. There are many useful plugins by which you can handle your blog properly. You will love to know about them. W3 total cache is the plugin used for caching to improve your website speed. You can use it to reduce the page loading time. But the must have thing is that you should know the perfect settings of this plugin.
Thanks for your input.
Have a wonderful weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
Its cool to have this post on the W3 Total Cache plugin setting. The configuration tips are handy because this where many newbies often get confused. The screen display makes the steps clearer!
This comment was left in kingged.com as well.
Hey Sunday,
Most of beginners do mistakes while doing settings for w3 total cache. As we all know that caching plugin is required for every blog so its necessary to know about perfect settings. Wrong settings can harm your blog.
Thanks for stopping by.
Have a nice weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
WordPress has got better customization than blogger and I also wish to move to WordPress soon. Thank you for your tutorials, they will help me turn into a overnight wordpress pro.
Thanks for sharing!
Have a great day!
Hi Sasidhar,
You will get many features in WordPress with the use of plugins. For adding any widget or doing any other stuff at your blog you can use plugins in WordPress. For better speed of your blog you can use caching plugins like w3 total cache. But don’t forget to do the right settings.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Enjoy your day.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
Sorry for stepping in late this time – you know why, don’t you? ?
This is really an important post. It’s true that you can’t make full use of W3TC if you don’t configure it properly. Minor correct tweaks can bring out major positive changes and speed up the blog for those suffering from slow speed even after enabling W3TC.
The minify settings are most important as they are the ones that can cause display problems for a website. We have the minify settings on “manual” as we’ve specified the particular files to be minified. We once had enabled the database cache and ran into problems probably because we use a CDN, so I agree with you that it should be left disabled in such cases. We don’t have the object cache enabled too.
Under the Miscellaneous section, we have the optimize disk… option enabled too and so far it hasn’t caused any problems.
However, the W3TC settings may differ from site to site depending on their nature and use, and also on the servers or their hosting plans. So, I guess its best to go with what you’ve described in this post and people can hit and try to see what really suits their site.
I had written a post on how I increased the speed of my blog and I recommend the use of the free version of CloudFlare to go with W3TC – they make a great pair!
Thanks again for this great informational post – very helpful. ?
Hi Harleena,
Yeah! I know it but party is still going.:)
While using w3 total cache plugin bloggers should have proper settings because if they do it wrong then it may cause problem. Minify settings are of great of use but only it suits your blog. You are right that working of this plugins differs site to site. Many bloggers have clarified that they are using Minify setting as “auto” and still its working fine but many have experienced that it may harm your blog. It is dependent on the nature of website. May be it prefers dynamic websites or may be static.
In most of cases it is recommended that you shouldn’t use database settings with a CDN. It may create problem. You should always check speed of your website after doing any change in this plugin so that you can come to know that its working fine for your blog or not.
I too use this combination and its great.;)
Thanks a lot for sharing your amazing thoughts.
Have a successful week ahead.:)
~Ravi
It’s my second fav cache plugin. It’s easy to setup but be sure to check your site after activating something. Sometimes, it will mess up the look of the site or some of it’s functions.
Ravi put up a great step by step so check each step and dont just jump in to change it all at the same time.
Hey Dennis,
I agree with you that bloggers should check their website after the activation of this plugin. Many bloggers have experienced that if you do any wrong setting of this caching plugin then it may harm appearance of your blog and may effect any other plugin. Its very important to know about correct settings.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Enjoy your day.:)
~Ravi
Another very important tutorial from your side ? It is important to configure the plugin correctly to get best results.
I use W3TC plugin in my blog and satisfied with the results.
Have a great day ?
Hi Shabnam,
Many bloggers have complained about this plugin about its worse results. It is because they don’t the correct settings of W3TC. Its results are quite good and it helps to increase the speed of your website. You just need to take care of proper settings.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Enjoy your day.:)
~Ravi
Hello Ravi,
Nice Information. It is very helpful tutorial for beginner level users but I use WP super cache, but this also seems a good option.Thanks for sharing this wonderful guide with us.
Regards,
Minakshi Srivastava
Hey Minakshi,
There are many caching plugins to use at your blog. While using W3TC many bloggers do mistakes by doing wrong settings. Its very important to keep in your mind that you do right settings for the plugin you use at your blog. Its not only about W3TC, its about every plugin because it may drop you into trouble if you don’t do correct settings.
Thanks for taking time to visit.
Have a happy week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Hey Ravi,
I took down W3TC for a paid caching plugin and my blog’s speed got highly optimized. I’m reviewing the plugin and will publish on my blog in a few days.
W3TC is a wonderful free plugin however and thanks for bringing out these settings details
Do have a wonderful day buddy
Hey Enstine,
Most of bloggers can’t afford paid plugins. They are all dependent on free WordPress plugins.
I am glad to know that you are reviewing a new plugin. i hope it will help many plugins to optimize their blog.
Thanks for your comment.
Have a nice day.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
a very detailed guide here.
I am using WP Super Cache.
When I’ve installed time ago, I’ve followed few tips to arrange settings and that’s all.
I guess the plugin you shared has many more options.
Will surely check it out.
Thank you for sharing!
Hey Erik,
WP super cache is an alternative of W3TC plugin to boost up the speed of your blog.
You will find many options in W3 total cache plugin to use for your blog. You can use database caching, object caching and else too but only if you know the correct settings of this plugin. Many bloggers have experienced bad from this plugin.
Thanks for taking time to put your input.
Enjoy your rest of the week.
~Ravi
Hello Sir Ravi,
I have never heard about the W3 cache plugin let alone using it on my blog. I think this is as a result of the fact that I am still blogging on the blogger platform.
From your explanation, it will be great having such a plugin as every will be happy having a site with a low load time. It will give your visitors a better experience.
Thanks for this big share. Enjoy the rest of the week
Hi Joseph,
Its obvious that you are using Blogger platform that’s why you haven’t heard about such plugins. Though this is the common caching WordPress plugin and most of bloggers use it at their blog to increase the speed of their blog but still many bloggers don’t know about it.
For every plugin its important to do proper settings and in case of W3TC its a must to do thing.
Thanks for sharing your views.
Have a nice day.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
While i created a blog, i don’t know what are plugins, how to use this etc, later i know about this by reading the article’s shared like you by others. For blogging, passion and patience is must. Why i am saying this is, to earn money from online i struggled lot, because of my hardwork and smartwork am earning decent money from adsense and other affiliates.
Till date am using this w3 cache for my blog, but i didn’t go through it for settings section. By reading your post, i clearly understood about this plugin.
Thanks for sharing this man. This must be useful for newbies who are using wordpress.
Keep updating.
Hey Raaja,
You will find man plugins in the WordPress directory and for sure they are amazing in their use. You can use plugins to do anything at your blog. You know speed of your website is really important and you should keep in your mind as how to improve it?
Using this plugin you can do it easily but only if you use correct settings.
If you use wrong settings then this plugin may ruin your website.
Thanks for stopping by.
Enjoy your stay.:)
~Ravi
Hey Ravi,
Well I have this plugin and Ashvini set it up for me but I think it’s not set up correctly for some reason.
I had to deactivate it a little while back because I was having issues with the newest update of WordPress and my hosting service blamed it on this plugin. I later learned it had nothing to do with it of course so when I reactivated it I don’t think all the settings are back in the right place.
So of course I’m pressed with time right now but will take that time soon to go back through this post and make sure everything is set correctly.
Thank you so much for this by the way, I’ll be hanging onto this post now.
Hope you’re enjoying your week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
As Harleena has mentioned above that W3TC gives different output with different websites. For many reasons bloggers don’t like this plugin because it may create problem with the CSS of your blog if you have wrong settings of it.
For proper use of this plugin you must have known about correct settings only only then you can increase speed of your website. There are many other plugins too but still W3TC has its own importance. As You can see that its very easy to configure this plugin and you can enable object cache because you have many post at your blog.
Thanks for your wonderful input.
You too enjoy your rest of the week.:)
~Ravi
I have read a lot about W3 cache and its related things, however I always face some problems while loading my site. Sometimes, it takes too much time to get loaded. What could be the reason behind that?
Hey James,
Welcome to my blog.:)
There may be many reasons for that as your page size may be larger. You should use optimized images in your blog post so that you can keep your page size light. You should have a caching plugin which helps you to increase the speed of your website. W3TC is a caching plugin to use and here are the proper settings to apply.
Thanks for stopping by.
Enjoy your stay.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
That’s great to have this tutorial post on the W3 Total Cache plugin settings.
I have this plugin but I had to deactivate it because it was conflicting with another plugin. I will follow your step by step guide here and configure it right and make use of it.
The screen shots you use makes the steps clearer and easy!
Thanks Ravi for a great tutorial as always. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Hey Neamat,
As I have mentioned above that most of bloggers face such kind of problems due to their lack of knowledge about the configuration of W3TC.
There are many settings which can ruin your blog. Basically minify settings conflict with many other plugins. But if you use it effectively then it would be great for your blog to have better speed.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Have a wonderful week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Well done Ravi for this very useful and technical post. Cloudflare together with W3 Total Cache plugin can significantly increase the blog speed which can also reduce burden on your web hosting.
As a must have plugin for shared hosting users.
Hi Bilal,
Welcome to my blog.:)
I am glad to know that you have liked this tutorial. You know speed of your website is really important and you need to improve it.
Using W3TC you can reduce the page size and speed may increase. For sure CloudFlare with this plugin will increase the speed.
Thanks for stopping by.
Enjoy your stay.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi
Another very techie, useful and easy to understand post.
Blog speed is one of the main factors of Google page rank and it is said out of every ten visitors just two of them wait for more than 7 seconds to open a blog while else close the window just after 7 seconds while 4 of them quit after 4 seconds. It shows the importance of speed to hold higher traffic at your blog.
W3TC is the most tested and successful cache plugin that solves the problem of slow speed forever if a blogger install it fully following the tips you mentioned in this post.
Just one word of caution; before installing it one must check its compatibility with the installed plugins which he can confirm by thoroughly research the info page of W3TC website.
Thanks a lot for sharing very informative and useful post.
Hi Muba,
For sure website speed matters a lot for ranking and Google shows the result on the basis of many things in which speed in included. Whenever any user search for anything in Google then he/she will get the best results from the internet and Google prefer fast loading websites. You are right that if your website loading time is high then people will not get interested to visit your website.
W3TC is a great plugin which should be used by bloggers for better website speed. But its very important to check it before using it at your blog. Sometime it may create problem with other plugins.
Thanks for dropping your wonderful input.
Have a happy weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hello Ravi,
What an Awesome tutorial on this W3 total cache plug-in. You have really given us everything we need to get this set up properly but I do have a few concerns?
For one I was told that having to many plug ins can cause my blog to slow down now this plug in will help to speed it up??
This just does not make sense Perhaps you could share with me more about this..
Thanks Chery :))
Hey Chery,
For sure using so many plugins at your blog may slow down your website but W3 Total Cache is a caching plugin and made to help you with the speed of your website. Whenever you or any user open any page of your website then this plugin will show them the page after reducing its size. It will remove unwanted codes due to which page loading time will increase. But for effective use you have to know about the right settings because with the wrong settings you may harm your blog.
Thanks for your wonderful input.
Enjoy your day.:)
~Ravi
Hey Ravi,
Very great post here. I’ve been getting more and more serious for the past few weeks – months regarding website speed and have this plugin you suggested installed.
It’s a really great plugin and I’m glad I have it. Don’t know what I’d do without it really.
I’ve heard people have conflicts with this plugin but luckily I haven’t run into any types if problems with it. Great post here, Ravi.
– Andrew
Hey Andrew,
You have heard it right that many people have faced problems due to this plugin. It may conflict with other plugins if you use wrong settings. In most of cases due to wrong settings it mismatches the website design due to removing of unwanted codes from CSS and JavaScript files.
Its good to know that you are using it in the correct manner.
Thanks for taking time to say your words.
Have an awesome weekend.:)
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
How are you today? Thanks for the tutorial. I am little bit confused. I used both W3 total cache plugin and wp super cache plugin. But, don’t able to measure which one is great for me. Although w3 total cache has lots of feature to understand and then use.
On the other hand, wp super cache settings is little bit easy for me. Now i am using wp super cache without facing any issue. For one my clients, i used w3 total cache. But didn’t see the enough progress in GTMETRIX. Though i did the enough set up to gain high score on it.
~Taposh
Hey Taposh,
I am great. Thanks:)
You know that speed of your blog matters a lot. There are many plugins to use. Most of the bloggers use W3 Total cache and Wp super cache. Depending upon their work you will get the best performance. If you do correct settings of W3 Total cache then it will be great in its work.
Though Wp super cache is a light plugin. It doesn’t conflict any of other plugins. It is always advised to use such plugins if you don’t want any confliction. You can’t see instant results. After activating the plugin, your website would have to get optimized by it. It may take few hours.
Try to check the size of your website page and upload optimized images to reduce the size of the page.
~Ravi