How to delete your browser's cache and do a hard refresh

You may have observed that a website you've been to previously loads more quickly when you go back to it after a break. Due to your browser saving a copy of the website on your computer, something has happened.

The browser accomplishes this because loading a website locally rather than again downloading it from the internet is far faster for your browser.

Why do I need to force my browser to refresh its cache?

Although saving pages to the browser's cache speeds up page loading, it might sometimes prevent you from seeing website changes until you hard refresh. When performing SEO, we frequently perform hard refreshes to make sure we are viewing the most recent search engine results.

This is due to the cached versions in their browsers. In this case, hard refreshing your browser would be necessary to download the fresh content and erase the cache. The commands for doing a hard refresh differ based on the operating system and browser you are using.

We have created this Infographic for you to use if you prefer to learn visually.

If you're using Chrome, here's how to hard refresh the browser and erase the cache.

Chrome in Windows

There are two ways to perform a hard refresh in Google Chrome on Windows,

  1. Hold down Ctrl and click the Reload button.
  2. Or Hold down Ctrl and press F5.

Chrome in Mac

There are two ways to perform a hard refresh in Google Chrome on Mac,

  1. Hold down Shift and click the Reload button.
  2. Or Hold down Command, Shift and click the ‘R’ key.

If you're using Firefox, here's how to hard refresh the browser and remove the cache.

Firefox in Windows

There are two simple key combinations you may use to hard refresh Firefox on Windows,

  1. Hold down Ctrl, Shift and the ‘R’ key.
  2. Or Hold down Ctrl and press F5.

Firefox in Mac

There are two simple key combinations you may use to hard refresh Firefox on Mac:

  1. Hold down Command, Shift and the ‘R’ key.
  2. Or Hold down Shift and press the reload button.

If you're using Safari, here's how to hard refresh the browser and remove the cache.

Safari

There is just one simple technique to hard refresh Safari.

  1. Hold down the option and command key then press the ‘E’ key.

When using Internet Explorer, how do you hard refresh the browser and remove the cache?

Internet Explorer

To hard refresh safari, there is one simple way to do it,

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

Conclusion

Thank you for reading, and we hope this information is useful to anyone looking to hard refresh their browser.