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Changes on my website aren't appearing instantly

It's best to wait for the changes to take effect, but there are some ways to force the website to reload with the changes.

There's several reasons why changes on your website aren't reflecting immediately:

  • Caching - Your browser saves copies of websites locally to load them faster. While convenient, this means you might see an old version instead of the latest one.
  • Propagation time - When website owners update their site, the changes have to spread across many servers worldwide, which takes time—sometimes minutes, sometimes hours.
  • CDN delays - Many websites use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) which store copies of the site on servers around the world. These CDNs update on their own schedules, not immediately after a change is made.
  • Browser refresh issues - Sometimes a simple refresh isn't enough; you might need to do a "hard refresh" to force your browser to get the newest version.
  • Server-side caching - Websites themselves often cache data to reduce database load, and these caches may only update periodically.

Hard refreshing your browser

If waiting is not an option for you, you can try hard refreshing your browser to see if the changes appear.

Chrome

Windows/Linux:
  1. Hold down Ctrl and click the Reload button.
  2. Or, Hold down Ctrl and press F5.

Mac OS:

  1. Hold down ⌘ Cmd and ⇧ Shift key and then press R.
  2. Or, hold ⇧ Shift and click the Reload button.

hard-refresh-browser-chrome

 

Firefox

Windows/Linux:

  1. Hold down Ctrl and ⇧ Shift and then press R.
  2. Or, hold the Ctrl key and press the F5 key.

Mac OS:

  1. Hold down ⌘ Cmd and ⇧ Shift and then press R.
  2. Or, hold down the ⇧ Shift and click the Reload button.

hard-refresh-browser-firefox

 

Safari

    1. Hold down the Option + ⌘ Cmd key and then press the ‘E’ key.

    hard-refresh-browser-safari2

     

    Microsoft Edge

    1. Hold the Ctrl key and click the Refresh button.
    2. Or, hold the Ctrl key and press the F5 key.

    hard-refresh-browser-internet-explorer.jpg

    Clearing site cache

    If a hard refresh doesn't work, then you can try clearing the site cache. If Refuel is helping with hosting your website, then you can access the Staq Hosting settings in the administrator menu. Just click Clear site cache under the Staq Hosting menu item and it should force the server to load the website from scratch.

    You may need to also hard refresh your browser after clearing the site cache.

    There are some things to consider when clearing out the site cache. While it isn't a bad thing to regularly clear the site cache, there are some potential downsides:

    • Performance impact: Your website will likely slow down immediately after clearing cache as new requests need to be processed from scratch
    • Increased server load: Without cached responses, your server must work harder to regenerate content for each visitor
    • Higher database queries: This can put strain on your database servers during high-traffic periods
    • Potential cost increases: More processing means more server resources consumed

    If you notice or are not sure whether clearing the site cache is affecting your website performance, lodge a support ticket and we'll help you resolve this.