Performance & Core Web Vitals
Cache after image optimization
After Images Apply the site still shows old photos — CDN, LiteSpeed, or the browser serves cache.
Typical symptom
Verify in Explorer shows new URLs but the client still sees the old hero or blurry JPEG.
Puluno modules
PulseImages
Undo change
No — info / hosting only
Issue codes
cache_stale_after_images
What you see
- Puluno Images Apply completed, Verify in Center OK.
- Explorer after refresh still reports
cache_stale_after_imagesor the same file weight. - Client says “nothing changed” — private window shows the old image too.
- PageSpeed references a different URL than
<img src>in HTML (CDN variant).
Why it happens
Optimization replaces the file or URL, but cache layers keep the old bytes:
- LiteSpeed / WP Rocket / host cache.
- Cloudflare “Cache Everything” on
/wp-content/uploads/. - Browser + service worker (PWA).
- Attachment
?ver=query unchanged.
Not an Apply bug — it is purging.
What Puluno does
| Phase | Action |
|---|---|
| Diagnose | Explorer compares file size / URL with HTML |
| Apply | Images — done before purge |
| Verify | only after purging all layers |
Pulse may suggest purge for known cache plugins — not every host combo.
Step by step
- Note the exact hero URL before and after Apply (Explorer → heavy_images / LCP).
- Purge WordPress cache (Pulse / cache plugin / host panel).
- Purge CDN (Cloudflare → Purge by URL for the image + homepage).
- Hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R) or another device.
- Verify: Explorer “Refresh same site (live)”.
- If still stale: check theme hardcoded URL in CSS
background-image.
Rollback — undo the change
Cache purge has no rollback — it does not restore data.
Images rollback restores the file; purge again.
When it is not Puluno
- Theme serves a different image than Puluno optimized (
srcset). - AVIF unsupported by old CDN — JPEG fallback in theme.
- Client watches Google cache in SERP — re-crawl takes days.
Related: Slow site — LCP.
Related situations