WP Rocket Review: Settings + CloudFlare integration 2023

WP Rocket Cache

Satish Ithamsetty

What I Like:
a. I like how easy it is to set up and use WP Rocket, even for someone not technically inclined.
b. I appreciate the comprehensive features that WP Rocket offers, including page caching, minification, and lazy loading.
What I Dislike:
a. I wouldn’t say I like WP Rocket’s price, as it can be expensive compared to other caching plugins.
b. I also wish that WP Rocket included a database and image optimization feature, as it would be more convenient to have everything in one plugin.
Useful For:
a. WP Rocket is helpful for anyone who wants to improve their website’s speed and performance, resulting in a better user experience and increased search engine rankings.
b. It benefits bloggers, small business owners, and anyone who wants to optimize their website without having to delve into technical details.

Ease of use

Price

Support

Page loading improvement

Summary

WP Rocket is one of the best premium cache plugins for your blog’s fast-loading features. Of course, Google loves fast-loading pages and gives the best ranking priorities. Get this fantastic plugin and start page load improvement progress.

5

Get it now

Do you experience issues loading your blog? To solve these problems, here is a perfect solution. This guide explains how to use WP Rocket Review and its basic settings in 2023 in detail. If you are using WordPress CMS, the loading time depends on several factors, such as your hosting server, the cache plugin you are using, and your resource limitations. Improve your site’s speed by using WP Rocket settings.

For better WordPress speed, you need one of the best WordPress performance plugins.

Now a day’s most of the Web hosting service providers are upgraded to advanced SSD storage and are giving unlimited storage features. But most WordPress users are facing blog loading issues.

Here is the best plugin to improve your blog loading time and the perfect time to upgrade the blog to the next level.

The plugin is named “WP Rocket (WordPress Rocket)”.  Google loves fast-loading blogs and it gives high priority in search engine ranking to those sites.

Is WP Rocket worth it? This plugin is giving awesome results for every WordPress blog. Personally, I am using this plugin for 12 months. The results are excellent.

This is a premium plugin. Before this, I used free caching plugins: W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, AutoOptimize, and Speed Booster. But you need additional skills to configure the plugins, and it takes more time.

These caching plugins create a cache of the static files of your blog posts. When the user is accessing those files, the plugin serves the pages from the cache folders directly.

I observed a few issues in the free versions like when I updated any plugin from the dashboard, the site structure was broken. I started my research to solve this issue permanently. I found WP Rocket. It solved my WordPress caching issues.

Here are some issues I found when I use the W3 Total Cache plugin on my blog:

• 404 Error as “404 Page Not Found” from Yoast Sitemap
• When I enabled the “Set expires headers” feature from the “Browser cache” option, Woocommerce products could not be cleared from the Cart.
• When I enable the Minify button, it was breaking my WordPress theme.

After I switched to the WP Rocket WordPress plugin, 99% of my issues were solved. really great coding. 

What is WordPress caching?

WordPress caching is a crucial way to make your website faster. When people click on your blog from search engines, caching can help load your blog more quickly. You can do this by installing free caching plugins for WordPress.

When many people try to access your blog at once, caching allows you to reuse old data instead of generating new data every time. It helps speed up the process.

Sometimes, you need to remove old cache data and generate new cache data. It is called purging the cache. You should do this when you post a new comment or update an old post.

I asked our BloggingDen VIP support group which caching plugin they liked the best, and most of them recommended one particular plugin.

What are the benefits of WordPress caching?

The benefits of WordPress caching are involved in the following.

• Improved Website Speed: Caching helps your website load faster by reusing old data instead of generating new data every time a user visits your website.
• Better User Experience: With faster loading times, visitors are more likely to stay on your website and explore your content, resulting in a better user experience. 
• Increased Search Engine Rankings: Google and other search engines prefer fast-loading websites and may rank them higher in search results, resulting in increased traffic to your website. 
• Reduced Server Load: Caching minimizes the number of requests made to your server, which helps reduce the load on your server, leading to improved server performance and fewer server crashes. 
• Lower Bandwidth Usage: Caching can reduce bandwidth usage by reusing old data instead of generating new data every time a user visits your website. It can result in cost savings for website owners. 
• Better Conversion Rates: Faster website speed and improved user experience can lead to better conversion rates, resulting in more sales, leads, or other conversions for your website. 
• Improved SEO: Improved website speed, better user experience, and higher search engine rankings can lead to improved SEO, resulting in increased visibility and traffic to your website.

If you are really facing page loading issues with your WordPress website, I strongly suggest buying WP Rocket.

WP Rocket Review: Basics and Benefits

The WP Rocket cache plugin is the new trending speedup plugin for WordPress users. It comes with awesome features for better conversions. WP Rocket is a performance-optimized caching plugin. It improves the site’s loading speed within 3 minutes. The setup is very simple. There is no need for additional skills to configure this plugin. Already more than 6 lakh WordPress users have grabbed this best WordPress Caching plugin.

Special features of WP Rocket Plugin:

The WP Rocket plugin comes with a few in-built plugins. These are the special features.

• Easy to set up: You can set up this plugin within 3 to 4 minutes. No programming skills are needed.
• Ultra-fast cache loading time: Helps you with better search engine ranking.
• Cache Preloading: Improves indexing of your website by search engines instantly.
• Sitemap Preloading: Preload all the URLs in your XML sitemap to ensure that your site’s cache is always warm. Automatic detection of Yoast SEO, All in One SEO, and Jetpack sitemaps.
• GZip Compression: It helps you optimize the rendering of web browsers and save bandwidth, and it facilitates the work of the browser (Gzip compression, expired headers, tags).
• Database Optimization: It cleans up your database to remove bloat and reduce its size, boosting your site’s performance. You can schedule regular clean-ups to keep things running smoothly.
• Google Font Optimization: It helps you have a faster website with HTTP requests. This is a great added feature.
• Remove Query Strings from Static Resources: It improves your GTMetrix grade by removing query strings from CSS/JS files. Cache busting is retained by encoding the version number into the URL.
• Lazyload: The feature is improved and saves additional plugin load. It improves the load time of the page by loading the images after the user scrolls the page. YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, and other major websites are using this technique. The same technique is coming as an inbuilt feature.
• Cloudflare compatibility: You can integrate your blog with the Cloudflare CDN account easily. You can manage Cloudflare cache and development mode enability from your dashboard with a single click for better performance. To integrate Cloudflare CDN, you need a free account.
• DNA Prefetching: They offer a special tool to reduce the time of DNS resolutions from external domains, by preloading.
• Developer Friendly: WP Rocket’s code is developed according to WordPress best practices. It is clean, commented, and has loads of hooks so developers can easily make advanced customizations.

Pros and Cons of WP Rocket Plugin

Pros

1. User-Friendly: WP Rocket is easy to set up and use, even for beginners.
2. Comprehensive Features: WP Rocket offers a wide range of features that help optimize your website’s speed and performance, including page caching, browser caching, minification, lazy loading, and more.
3. Improved Website Speed: WP Rocket can significantly enhance your website’s speed and performance, resulting in a better user experience and increased search engine rankings.
4. Excellent Customer Support: WP Rocket offers superior customer support, including a comprehensive knowledge base, a ticket-based support system, and live chat.
5. Regular Updates: WP Rocket is regularly updated to fix bugs, add new features, and ensure compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress.

Cons

• Price: WP Rocket is more expensive than some other caching plugins, which may not suit those on a tight budget.
• Compatibility Issues: Although rare, WP Rocket may have compatibility issues with some WordPress themes and plugins.
• Limited Free Version: WP Rocket does not offer a free version of its plugin, which may not be suitable for those just starting or looking for a basic caching solution.
• No Database Optimization: WP Rocket does not include a database optimization feature, meaning users must install a separate plugin to optimize their WordPress database.
• No Image Optimization: WP Rocket does not include an image optimization feature, meaning users must install a separate plugin to optimize their website’s images.

How to Install WP Rocket Plugin?

The installation of WP Rocket is very simple. After downloading, the plugin from the official page, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Go for Plugins

Login into your WordPress blog and go to Plugins > Add New

Step 2: Upload and Activate the Cache plugin

Click on the Upload button Choose the downloaded plugin location and select the plugin. Click on the Install button and Activate the plugin.

Step 3: Start Configuration

This is simple. Now you need to configure the plugin.

Note: First you need to disable and delete the old cache plugins from your WordPress blog. 

How to setup WP Rocket Plugin in your Blog? (WP Rocket settings)

The WP Rocket plugin comes with awesome features. You can use these features within 3 to 4 minutes. No need to learn additional coding skills. Here I am explaining the basic settings for easy configuration.­­­­­

Basically, the plugin will be pre-configured with optimal and safe settings after activation.

I am providing the basic settings that I am using for my blogs. Here are the complete WP Rocket settings for 2023.

After activation of this plugin, go for Settings > WP Rocket from the left side column.

You will get the WP Rocket User-friendly interface with the following options. Here are the WP Rocket’s best settings. They are

When you enter into the plugin settings page the first option is Dashboard.

1. Dashboard

Here you will find the premium activation status, account details, and FAQs. You can perform the actions like clearing the cache, viewing your account and contacting the support team, and more.

2. Cache

Here you will find the basic options like Mobile cache, User cache, and Cache Lifespan. 

3. File Optimization

From here you can optimize your website files. You can configure the basic settings, configuring CSS Files, and JavaScript Files. If you are using the Cloudflare CDN, do not change these options. Uncheck all the options on this page or leave the default settings without any change. The minification setup should be done on Cloudflare only.

4. Media

From this page, you can activate the Lazyload, Emoji disable, and Embeds prevention. The lazy loading feature helps you to perceive the loading time for your images, iframes, and videos at the user end by reducing the HTTPS request automatically. Enabling the Lazy loading feature gives a better impact on page loading speed and a better user experience.

5. Preload

From here, Sitemap preloading, Preload Bot, and Prefetch DNS Requests configuration settings are available.  

In the URLs to prefetch box in the “Prefetch DNS requests,” the section adds the following URLs for better DNS prefetching. Copy the given URL list and paste it into the specified box, then save the settings.

After Saving the settings, go for the Preload cache option from the WP Rocket top admin panel. When cache lifespan expires and whenever you click the preload link from the admin toolbar or the WP rocket dashboard. It is important to note that preloading doesn’t work. Suppose you have a separate mobile site or use cookie-specific cache files. After triggering a preload, you shall see the notices at the top of your screen.

//maps.googleapis.com
//maps.gstatic.com
//fonts.googleapis.com
//fonts.gstatic.com
//ajax.googleapis.com
//apis.google.com
//google-analytics.com
//www.google-analytics.com
//ssl.google-analytics.com
//youtube.com
//api.pinterest.com
//cdnjs.cloudflare.com
//pixel.wp.com
//connect.facebook.net
//platform.twitter.com
//syndication.twitter.com
//platform.instagram.com
//disqus.com
//sitename.disqus.com
//s7.addthis.com

//platform.linkedin.com
//w.sharethis.com
//s0.wp.com
//s.gravatar.com
//stats.wp.com
//www.googletagmanager.com
//www.googletagservices.com
//adservice.google.com
//pagead2.googlesyndication.com
//tpc.googlesyndication.com
//bp.blogspot.com
//1.bp.blogspot.com
//2.bp.blogspot.com
//3.bp.blogspot.com
//4.bp.blogspot.com
//ajax.microsoft.com
//ajax.aspnetcdn.com

//s3.amazonaws.com
//code.jquery.com
//stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com
//use.fontawesome.com
//player.vimeo.com
//github.githubassets.com
//referrer.disqus.com
//c.disquscdn.com
//0.gravatar.com
//2.gravatar.com
//1.gravatar.com
//ad.doubleclick.net
//googleads.g.doubleclick.net
//stats.g.doubleclick.net
//cm.g.doubleclick.net
//stats.buysellads.com
//s3.buysellads.com

6. Advanced Rules

This is a helpful option to improve your page speed. You can add the details of the un-caching file of plugins here. Keep these settings as default if you are a newbie.

7. Database

You can optimize the database for more speed and clean revision, auto drafts, and trash posts. you can schedule the auto cleaning process. 

8. CDN

You can configure CDN (Content Delivery Network) like MaxCDN or KeyCDN and any other from here.

9. Add-ons

WP Rocket is providing four add-ons currently. They are

On-click Rocket Add-on:

• Google Tracking: If you enable this feature, you can see the Google Analytics errors in the Speed testing tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom. Better to host this feature locally to fix these issues. It hosts the Google scripts locally on your servers to help satisfy the page speed recommendations for Leverage browser caching.
•  Facebook Pixel: It improves the Browser caching feature.
•  Vanish (Use this feature if your site is hosted on WP Engine and FlyWheel hosting server supports. For more details, contact your hosting provider before configuring this addon).

Rocket Addons:

• Cloudflare: You can integrate your free account by providing the Global API key, Account Email, and Zone ID here. In this addon page, choose Optimal settings to autoconfigure the basic settings. You may check the Cloudflare settings in my article if you are new to Cloudflare.

10. Tools

Helpful features. You can import or export the plugin configuration settings from here. The rollback feature is a useful option to roll back your plugin to a previous major version, which is useful in bug infection or plugin conflict. 

11. HeartBeat

Reducing or disabling the Heartbeat API’s activity can help save some of your server’s resources. 

The WordPress Heartbeat API provides a connection for real-time data transfer and syncing between the server and the browser. Examples of where the Heartbeat API is involved include:

• Autosave and revisions in the post editor
• Notifications on the WordPress admin dashboard
• Post-locking information when another editor is working on a post
• Real-time data displayed on the dashboard by plugins (e-commerce)

12. Tutorials

You can visit this section if you need clarification on how to do page caching properly. Here are the excellent video tutorials that should help you configure this plugin, WP Rocket. 

How to Get WP Rocket Plugin?

Is WP Rocket free? WP Rocket is a premium plugin. It is not available in the free WordPress plugin repository. You must buy the plugin from their official site by following the steps.

Step 1: Go for plugin’s official page

First, you need to click the below button. You will be redirected to the pricing page. Here you need to pay a few dollars to grab this simple plugin.

Step 2: Pick the perfect plan

Here you will find the pricing table below. Choose the plan that is most suitable for your blog. The complete pricing or license options are as follows:

• Single: $49 (1 site): This is a simple choice for a new blogger, who has started a new blog on the WordPress platform.
• Plus: $99 (3 sites): This is a good choice for professional bloggers who are running 2 to 3 sites
• Infinite: $249 (unlimited sites): It is a worthy choice for WordPress website developers

Step 3: Place the Order

On this page, enter the details like an email address, first and last name, country, and payment details. Finally, click the “Place Order“ button. Here are two payment options. They are credit cards and PayPal. Choose one system, enter their details, and complete the purchase. Your account will be activated after confirming the registered email. 

After payment, you will get an email with activation mail and login details. Just log in with their credentials and download the plugin.

Bluehost Hosting for Better Speed

Bluehost is a highly recommended web hosting provider and is recommended by WordPress officials. Most professionals and business blogs’ first choice is Bluehost WordPress hosting.

Bluehost hosting

Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies. It is providing Free SSL, Free Domain, and CDN. You can grab this hosting with a 66% discount.

Learn More

The customer support team’s service and speed are excellent. If you are stuck at page loading time, upgrading your hosting to Bluehost WordPress hosting is best. So, by using the Bluehost deal, you can save up to 66% off the regular price. If you plan to migrate your data from Bluehost to another hosting provider, consider these options as the best Bluehost alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Final Words

The options and functionality of the WP Rocket are very close to other Free Cache Plugins. But maybe not everything.

With the WP Rocket plugin, you will get

• Convenience: more cache, easy-to-access configuration options, etc. all in one place. You do need to constantly bounce back and forth between different plugins.
• Compatibility: None of the features interfere with other options in the plugin.
• Support: If you go for free plugins, the support is limited, or sometimes they will respond after months. But the support of the WP Rocket is awesome. They will respond and solve the issue within 24 hours.
• Updates: As a premium member, you will receive regular updates from the developers directly. If the update is available, you can update it directly from your dashboard. No need to download a new version every time.

I hope this WP Rocket Review and Settings article is helpful and comprehensive. Remember to share this valuable guide to help others with page-loading issues.