Performance fix guide
No Browser Caching Headers
Returning visitors will re-download all resources every time.
Issue ID: PERF-CACHE-001
Severity: low
Impact: Med
Effort: S
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
Returning visitors will re-download all resources every time.
Why it matters
Returning visitors will re-download all resources every time. This affects load speed, Core Web Vitals, and how many visitors stay long enough to convert.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for PERF-CACHE-001 fails and the page evidence points to Http headers.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
Check the affected page source, rendered output, or relevant CMS setting to confirm the missing or incorrect element.
How to fix it
- 1Add Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000 for static assets
- 2Use shorter max-age for HTML pages (e.g. max-age=3600)
- 3Configure caching headers on your web server or CDN
How to re-check it
- Check response headers for Cache-Control with max-age > 0
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.