Web Caching
Web caching is a performance optimization technique that stores copies of web resources (like HTML pages, images, CSS, and JavaScript files) at various points between the server and client to reduce latency, bandwidth usage, and server load. It works by intercepting requests and serving cached responses when possible, based on caching policies and headers. This improves user experience by making websites load faster and more reliably.
Developers should implement web caching to enhance website performance, especially for high-traffic sites or applications with static or semi-static content. It's crucial for reducing server costs, improving scalability, and meeting performance benchmarks like Core Web Vitals. Use cases include e-commerce sites during sales, content delivery networks (CDNs), and single-page applications to minimize API calls.