[VIDEO] How to bypass your server or local cache by modifying your URL

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Last updated: January 9, 2021

Caching is often a source of issues when building or testing a website.

You can clear it by going to the settings of your browser, but if you want a quick way to bypass the cache, you can try to add some extra characters to your URL.

For example, if you want to test the website

https://www.thrivemate.com/

If you want to fetch a fresh copy from your web server (and bypass the cache), you can simply add ?1 at the end of the line.  Here's an example:

https://www.thrivemate.com?1

If I make a further modification to my page and what to force my browser to fetch the latest version, you would type:

https://www.thrivemate.com?2

Make sure you use a new number or character to bypass the cache every time.

This is especially useful on mobiles and tablets.

What is a parameter anyway?

Parameters are used by programmers for advanced website functionalities. It's often used for dynamic content and the cache servers typically avoid sending cached version of these pages.

Notes

It might not work in some cases.

Depending on your caching configuration, this technique might not always work, but I have tested on popular WordPress hosts like Siteground, WPEngine, Kinsta and others.

It works when building pages with both Thrive Architect and Thrive Theme Builder.

Other Use Cases

PRO TIPS

You can use this technique when sending a link via e-mail.  

When you insert a link to one of your own website pages in your newsletter, and you think there might be a chance that people have seen that page already, you can add a parameter to the link to make sure your users will get a latest version of the page.


Let me know how it goes for you by leaving a comment.



{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
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