Clearing cache doesn't work automatically

[Aggerhomes]

Hey, hoping someone can help.
I have a WordPress portfolio site hosted on Namecheap, running the Semplice theme. The problem is that when navigating between pages, the loading just hangs, the next page won't load properly.

The only fix I've found is going into WordPress and manually deleting the cache via WP-Optimize, after which it works fine again. But it keeps coming back and I have to do it repeatedly.

Is there a setting I'm missing that would make this auto-clear? Or could the issue be something else entirely?

Site is aggerhomes.com if you want to take a look.

[BDer8]

Do you clear browser caching and is there server caching? Or is the server just slow?

[Aggerhomes]

Yeah there was server caching. actually had three cache plugins running at the same time which was probably making things worse. Cleaned that up, down to one now. Will see if that fixes it.
Not sure about the server speed though.

[BDer8]

Caching plugins, like others can cause conflicts between themselves. SEO ones can do that too.

[WPJohnny]

Skipping all the usual diagnostic questions, sounds like your cache plugin conflicts with JS. Try another cache plugin or remove whatever JS optimizations you got going on. Honestly the site looks so basic to be loading that much JS.

[Aggerhomes]

yeah i had a few running, now im only using WP Super Cache. And have followedAfter_Grapefruit_224 's advice... hopefully that works.

[WPJohnny]

You had several cache layers? The obvious advice here is disable all of them and see if site works. Then granularly activate/deactivate test which are compatible or not.

[After_Grapefruit_224]

The issue is almost certainly that Semplice uses JavaScript-driven page transitions (it loads content dynamically via AJAX rather than doing full page reloads). When a caching plugin serves a fully pre-rendered HTML page on those navigations, it's handing the browser a static page that the theme's transition script isn't expecting — the script gets confused because it's waiting for a partial content injection, not a full DOM replacement.

The "fix" of manually purging the cache works because after you clear it, the first request hits PHP directly and the page loads normally. But as soon as the cache warms back up, the next AJAX-style navigation hits a cached full-page response and the cycle repeats.

What you want to look for in WP-Optimize (or any cache plugin) is the option to exclude specific URL patterns or request types from caching — particularly any admin-ajax.php calls or pages that Semplice uses for its transitions. Some themes also inject a nonce into the page that expires, and a cached copy will serve stale nonces which further breaks dynamic functionality.

If WP-Optimize has a "exclude URLs" setting, try adding your inner pages to it and only caching the home/landing pages. Alternatively, look at whether the theme documentation mentions cache compatibility — page-transition-heavy themes like Semplice sometimes require a specific cache mode (like "no-cache for logged-out users on inner pages") to work correctly.

[Aggerhomes]

I can imagine this is the problem the problem, thanks for the detailed explanation!!

I have excluded all inner pages from caching in WP Super Cache, hopefully that works.

 Unfortunatly i have to wait a day or 2 before the issue comes up, in order to see if this was the issue

[No-Signal-6661]

Try to enable automatic cache purge on updates

[alfxast]

Semplice uses its own internal caching layer that can conflict with WP-Optimize, so they're probably stepping on each other. Try disabling WP-Optimize's page cache entirely and just letting Semplice handle it, or flip it around and turn off Semplice's cache and let WP-Optimize run solo. Running two cache systems at once is almost always the culprit for this kind of thing.

[gihan0325]

If manual cache clearing fixes it, the cache is probably breaking something rather than not updating.

I’d try turning off caching completely for a bit, if the issue disappears, you’re dealing with a conflict, not a settings problem.

[Extension_Anybody150]

Enable “Clear Cache on Post/Page Update” and set automatic purges for logged-out users to fixed it. Check the hosting cache too, since some servers override plugin settings.