Web Caching Strategies for Performance

Master caching strategies for web performance. Learn about browser caching, CDN caching, and server-side caching with proper cache invalidation.

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Types of Web Caching

  • Browser Cache - Stores resources locally on the user's device
  • CDN Cache - Stores content on edge servers close to users
  • Server Cache - Application-level caching (Redis, Memcached)
  • Database Cache - Query result caching

Cache-Control Header Strategies

The Cache-Control header is your primary tool for controlling caching behavior. Use immutable for versioned static assets, no-cache for dynamic content that must be revalidated, and stale-while-revalidate for content that can briefly be stale.

Frequently Asked Questions

Version your static assets (e.g., style.abc123.css) and cache for 1 year (max-age=31536000, immutable).
It allows serving stale content while fetching fresh content in the background, improving perceived performance.

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