WE EXPLAIN IT TO YOU

What is Web Cache and how does it work?

Web cache or caching is a high-speed storage layer. This mechanism is responsible for storing a set of data to meet future requests more quickly, serving the previously stored information.

Every time a user tries to access a cached information, it will be served directly from the storage without the need to generate new requests.

To fully understand what a cache is in the context of a web page, we must understand how a web server works to deliver a web page to a user:

A user enters a web address in the browser (URL)
The web server receives the request
The server makes database and file requests to send the requested information.
The browser receives the requested information from the server

This procedure is performed when a user tries to access a URL, with the server making constant database and file requests each time the information is requested.

The cache comes into play to optimize these requests, optimizing server resources.

¿How does the web cache work?

The web cache is responsible for serving the content requested by the browser with the minimum number of requests, greatly enhancing the loading time and user experience.

A user enters a web address in the browser (URL).
The web server receives the request
The server checks if that URL exists in a cached version. The browser receives the requested information from the server
If a cached version of that URL exists the server sends the information to the user.
f there is no cached version of that URL within the server, the server will do the routine process of database and file requests to send the requested information, it will also create a cached copy of that information to handle future requests.
The server sends the information requested by the user.
The browser receives the requested information from the server

In this way the cache frees the server from the task of making certain requests to databases and files if it finds a cached URL, optimizing the entire information delivery process.

For this reason the web cache is a factor that cannot be missing in a web page.

Otherwise, every time a request is made to the server, the user will have to wait for the server to make all the necessary requests to deliver the requested information.

Types of Web Cache

There are 3 types of caching, the first comes from the browser, the second would be the broker cache and the third would be the server cache.

Server Cache

Server cache is also called gateway cache (reverse proxy-caches)..

This type of cache is different from the private caches by users or shared caches, depending directly on the server where the web is hosted.

Different types of gateway caches can be used, for example with the use of CDN or packages such as Varnish Cache.

Within the server cache we can see three types of cache systems:

Full page caching.
Object caching.
Fragment caching

In the case of Webempresa we use Magic Cache (Varnish), a Webempresa proprietary system that achieves load times of less than 1 second for standard pages. See more information about Magic caché.

Browser Cache

The browser cache is created from the user side (User-Agents). This cache is called private cache, since it is created exclusively by a single browser.

This cache is created when a user makes a request through the browser to a website, and in this first request all the data is collected without having to resort to the server.

Intermediary cache

This type of cache is created by Internet providers, which are the client-server intermediaries.

It is called a shared cache (direct proxy-cache) because it serves the same view of a page to several users.

WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES

Benefits of implementing web cache

The main benefit of implementing the web cache is the improvement of speed and performance on the web.

This leads to improve the user experience by making a fast loading of the consulted pages and avoiding that the navigation gives a poor experience.

But it is not only important for the user, Google rewards those pages that have an optimal performance, affecting the search engine results.

The mission of search engines is to give the best possible result to a user after performing a search, so if the content within a website is correct for a result but the user experience on the web is bad that result will not be the most optimal to show in the top positions of Google.

There are many cases in which an improvement in the performance of a web has meant an increase in conversions in Google positions, being the cache the most vital aspect.

In Google’s vital Core website several cases are mentioned, such as Pinterest or the BBC, in which an improvement in performance led to improvements of up to 40% more retention and 15% more traffic.