Cache Clearing — WP Engine & WP Rocket

Overview

Sites hosted on WP Engine typically run two caching layers: the WP Engine server-level cache and the WP Rocket plugin cache. After making any content changes — especially phone number updates for ^[1] tracking numbers — both caches must be cleared to ensure all visitors see the updated content rather than stale cached versions.

Failing to clear both caches is a common source of confusion: changes appear to have not worked when in fact they are simply being served from cache.

When to Clear Cache

Clear both caches after:

Updating phone numbers on any page (e.g., replacing location numbers with CallRail tracking numbers)
Publishing new or edited pages
Any batch of website edits before verifying results

Step-by-Step Process

1. Clear WP Engine Cache

Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard.
In the top admin bar, locate and click the WP Engine menu item.
Click Caching.
Click Clear All.

2. Clear WP Rocket Cache

Remaining in the WordPress admin dashboard, locate the WP Rocket item in the top admin bar.
Click Clear Cache.

Note: WP Rocket may display a warning that clearing cache will temporarily slow the site. This is expected and transient.

3. Verify Changes

After clearing both caches, verify the changes are live using an incognito/private browser window. This bypasses any persistent local browser cache that might continue serving stale content even after the server caches are cleared.

Do not use your regular browser window to verify — it may show cached content for an extended period regardless of server-side cache clearing.

Why Two Caches?

Cache Layer	Managed By	Scope
Server cache	WP Engine hosting platform	CDN / server-level page cache
Plugin cache	WP Rocket WordPress plugin	Application-level page cache

Because these operate independently, clearing only one may leave stale content served from the other. Always clear both in sequence.

Context & Evidence

This process was documented during a ^[2] CallRail implementation session. After updating Glendale location phone numbers in Elementor and publishing, the team cleared both caches before verifying the new tracking numbers were visible to site visitors. Mark Hope noted that skipping this step is a frequent cause of false "it didn't work" conclusions after phone number updates.

"Anytime you make a bunch of edits on the website, when you get done, if you don't clear the cache, what happens is those numbers are stored in your browser cache. And you're going to say, oh, it didn't work." — Mark Hope

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