Cache Warming

Overview

Cache warming is the process of proactively rendering pages and storing them in the cache before any bot visits. This ensures that when search engine crawlers arrive, they receive instant cached responses instead of waiting 2-5 seconds for a fresh render.

Why Warm Your Cache?

Without cache warming, the first bot visit to any page triggers an on-demand render. While 2-5 seconds is acceptable for bots, there are scenarios where you want instant responses:

  • After a fresh deployment -- Your cache was purged and every page needs re-rendering.
  • New domain setup -- You just added a domain and no pages are cached yet.
  • Time-sensitive content -- You published a page and want it immediately available for the next crawler visit.
  • High-traffic pages -- Your homepage and key landing pages should always be cached.

Warming from the Dashboard

Single Page

  1. Go to your domain's Cache tab.
  2. Enter a URL path in the Warm URL field (e.g., /about).
  3. Click Warm.
  4. The page is rendered and cached. You will see it appear in the cached pages list.

Using Emergency Refresh

For warming all pages at once after a major update, you can use the Emergency Refresh feature from the domain detail page. This triggers a full re-render of all cached pages for the domain. Note that emergency refreshes are limited per billing period based on your plan -- see Plans and Pricing for details.

Warming Strategies

Post-Deployment Warming

After deploying a new version of your site:

  1. Go to the domain's Cache tab in the dashboard.
  2. Click Purge All Cache to clear stale content.
  3. Warm your critical pages by entering their paths and clicking Warm.
  4. Alternatively, use an Emergency Refresh to re-render everything at once.

Priority-Based Warming

Not all pages are equally important. Focus warming on:

  1. Homepage -- Always keep cached. This is the most-crawled page.
  2. Key landing pages -- Service pages, product pages, pricing.
  3. High-traffic blog posts -- Check Analytics for your top pages.
  4. Recently updated pages -- Pages with fresh content that you want indexed quickly.

Render Limits and Warming

Cache warming consumes renders from your monthly limit, just like on-demand bot renders. Plan your warming strategy accordingly:

  • If you have 10,000 renders per month and 100 pages, warming all pages frequently would consume a significant portion of your limit.
  • Instead, warm your top 10-20 pages after deployments and let less important pages be rendered on demand.

Best Practices

  • Warm after every deployment to ensure bots see your latest content immediately.
  • Prioritize important pages rather than warming everything blindly.
  • Monitor your render usage to stay within plan limits.
  • Time warming before crawl peaks if you know when major crawlers visit (check your analytics).
  • Combine with selective purging -- Purge only changed pages, then warm those specific pages.

Next Steps

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Purging Cache

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SEO Optimization