The deceptively simple fix behind many “broken” website updates
TL;DR: Not seeing your content edits? Hitting CMD/Control + Shift + R in your browser to “hard refresh” the page usually does the trick. If not, try another method detailed below!
“When in doubt, cache it out.”
You updated your site. You refreshed the page. But… Nothing changed?
Cue the confusion. Perhaps an email to your dev team. Don’t worry, you (probably) didn’t break anything. More often than not, it’s caching doing what it does best: holding on to an old version of your site.
Oftentimes, all it takes to fix it is knowing when (and how) to… It’s time to play:
In long: Web browsers use local storage mechanisms like the HTTP cache, service workers (JavaScript files that manage background tasks like caching), and sometimes application-level caching (especially in SPAs or PWAs) to reduce page load time and network requests.
When you revisit a site, the browser checks whether it already has valid copies of static assets—like CSS, JavaScript, fonts, and images—stored locally. If those assets haven’t been explicitly marked as “stale” or updated with new file versions (e.g., via cache-busting query strings or hashed filenames), your browser may decide to reuse them.
This means:
Visual changes might not appear
Updated scripts might not run
You’re seeing a locally stored “snapshot” instead of the current state
P.S. Caching on the browser is only one layer of the cake... Caching comes in many different forms and use cases; In the browser, on the server, API responses from a server, hosting/networking responses, etc. But that’s probably a topic for another day.
Why is Caching Useful?
Caching is smart and resourceful, sorta like the human brain. On your first attempt at a new task, your brain has no pre-existing knowledge of the task you're doing. But as you build experience towards the task, you get quicker and more cunning at doing it. 👈That right there is caching.
Imagine you’re running in a two lap race. For the first lap, your main goal is to just get to the finish line. You run the first lap and it takes 5 minutes, but as you’re crossing the finish line, you figure there’s a shortcut that could reduce your time on the next lap. On the next lap, you use the shortcut and it cuts your lap time in half! With caching, you don't have to run the whole lap of the race every single time.
James Glass
Technical Director
Why do I need to clear my cache?
Clearing your cache is a way of forcing your internet browser to grab the latest & greatest version of a webpage, including all the tedious content edits you just made and may or may not be freaking out about if you’re not seeing them reflected on the live site.
If left uncleared after making edits, your browser will still cache an earlier version of it to save time, even if it’s not the most recently-updated version existing out in the world. So… you know what to do.
This banner hangs in the P3 office as an homage to our favorite cache-phrase.
How do I clear my cache?
Normally when we ask clients and partners to clear their cache, we mean their browser cache. But if you’ve been making content updates on your own website, you’ll need to clear your website/server cache too.
Here’s how to do both:
Clear your Browser Cache:
This clears the cached files your browser has stored locally on your device. If your site’s been updated but you aren’t seeing updates, it’s probably because your browser is storing a cached (i.e. old) version of the site instead. We’ve gotta tell it not to take that shortcut this time!
This action can vary slightly depending on which browser you’re using, but generally here are a few tricks to keep up your sleeve to clear your browser cache.
Quick Cache Shortcuts: The fastest ways to cache out.
Just open the page in a private or incognito window
On Mac: Press Command + Shift + R to complete a “hard refresh”
On PC: Press Ctrl + F5 OR Control + Shift + R
In most browsers, you can also hold Shift while clicking the Refresh icon
Manual Methods: These allow a little more specification, if you need it.
In Chrome: Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Clear Browsing Data. Then choose "Cached images and files" → Hit Clear data.
In Firefox: Go to Settings → Settings → Privacy & Security → Scroll to Cookies and Site Data → Click Clear Data → Check “Temporary Cached Files and Pages” → Click Clear
In Microsoft Edge: Go to Settings → Go to Privacy, Search, and Services → Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear → Check “Cached images and files” → Click Clear now
Clear your Server Cache:
This clears the cache stored on your actual website or server, not just your browser. It’s what helps your site load faster for everyone by saving copies of key files like images, styles, and page layouts. But when the site changes, those saved versions might not refresh right away. Clearing the site cache tells the system: “Hey—these files have changed, show the new ones!”
Again, methods for this action can depend on your CMS and your hosting environment, but these are some of the common methods we’ll encounter:
WordPress Admin Plugins:
If you use a caching plugin (like NitroPack, WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or LiteSpeed), log in to your WP dashboard and click “Clear Cache” or “Purge All Caches.”
Example: WP Engine quick panel in WordPress admin
Hosting Control Panel:
Some managed hosts (like WP Engine, Kinsta, Flywheel) have a cache purge button in their hosting dashboard.
CDN Providers (like Cloudflare):
Log in and purge the cache from your CDN control panel.
Options may include “Purge Everything” or targeted file purges.
Something Else:
Some deeper caching systems (object cache, opcode cache, server cache) may require a developer to manually flush your cache precisely.
Tried all the tricks—cleared your browser cache, purged the site cache, opened the page in incognito—and you’re still not seeing the update? Then it might not be a caching issue after all.
Sometimes the problem runs deeper, or “user error” has reared its ugly head:
A deploy didn’t actually go through
A file path is broken
A plugin is interfering with something (you’d be surprised how often this happens)
The change wasn’t saved or published properly
You’re working on a staging site, but checking changes on the production site (d’oh!)
If caching’s not the culprit, it may be time to loop in a professional developer (👋 hi). We can help you pinpoint what’s really going on and get things squared away—whether it’s a caching quirk or something else entirely.
Still stuck? Get in touch and we’ll see how we could help!
