When a saved WordPress change is not visible, first identify which cache serves the old result. Your browser, a WordPress plugin, a server-side page cache and a CDN can each retain a different copy. Clearing one layer does not necessarily clear the others.
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01 Recognise the layers
- Browser cache: stores assets or responses on a visitor's device.
- WordPress page cache: may serve generated pages without rebuilding them for every anonymous request.
- Server cache: an enabled reverse proxy such as NGINX may cache eligible responses before requests reach WordPress.
- Object cache: stores reusable application data; it is different from a complete HTML page cache.
- CDN cache: may hold content at an external edge service.
Availability depends on the hosting configuration. Installing a plugin named after a particular server does not establish that every server-specific feature is active.
02 Clear the relevant layer deliberately
- Confirm that the WordPress change was saved on the intended site. Compare a signed-in view with a signed-out private browser view.
- If a caching plugin is active, use its documented purge control. WordPress core does not provide a universal Browser Cache section in Settings, General.
- For NabWP, review the site's available Speed and cache controls. Use the action for the relevant site and check its result.
- On cPanel systems with NGINX caching enabled, the cPanel interface can show NGINX Caching information and a Clear Cache action. A feature may also permit changing caching status. If those controls are absent, ask us which server cache, if any, is in use.
- Purge the specific CDN URL when an external cache still has the old response, then retest the public page.
03 Avoid disabling everything permanently
Temporarily bypass one cache at a time while diagnosing a problem, record the change and restore the intended configuration afterward. Do not install several page-cache plugins to solve a stale-page issue. A full purge can briefly increase server work while the cache warms again.
Which WordPress pages should not use shared full-page caching?
Check cart, checkout, account and logged-in pages carefully. They need appropriate exclusions or a cache integration that understands the application. Test with two separate sessions so one visitor never sees another visitor's private content. If that occurs, stop using the affected cache path and contact us with the page and reproduction details.
When the public page remains stale, provide the exact URL, saved change, test time and layers already purged. This is more useful than repeatedly clearing every available cache without recording the result.