A CDN, or Content Delivery Network, refers to a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content, such as HTML pages, javascript files, stylesheets, images, and videos [CloudFlare].
This network of servers is designed to deliver content as quickly, cheaply, reliably, and securely as possible. To achieve this, CDN providers place servers at internet exchange points (IXPs) between different networks.
These servers store cached versions of the website content, making it readily available for user requests.
When a user requests a web page, the content is delivered via the server that’s closest to them geographically.
Websites that don’t use CDNs rely on a single server to distribute content to all site visitors, whether they’re a located just down the road or on the other side of the world.
The internet has very much become about providing a positive user experience (UX). A positive UX means fast loading websites, quality content, relevancy and intuitive navigation – not to mention that all of these things also contribute to better SEO rankings and results.
Furthermore, when it comes to e-commerce websites, speed equals money.
Did you know that pages that load within 0 to 2 seconds have the highest ecommerce conversion rates.
If you’re looking to give your SEO a boost, then you should definitely be looking at improving your website’s performance, namely speed, in the name of providing users with a positive UX.
UX and SEO go hand-in-hand as Google’s prioritisation of a positive UX to determine search rankings only increases. The first major algorithm update in relation to UX was the 2015 Google Mobile-Friendly update. This changed the ranking arena greatly as it made businesses prioritise how they display their content to users both on desktop and mobile.
No longer was it acceptable to just have any old version for users on mobile, or to have a separate mobile version which resulted in many inconsistencies – not to mention the additional time taken up to manage 2 websites instead of 1!
Then, in 2018, Google confirmed that landing page loading speed was a search ranking factor, including for mobile searches. This upped the anti once again for users to have a positive UX on any device.
Now, in 2021, Google has even taken this a big step further with their Core Web Vitals update which places speed and UX at the forefront of a ‘good’ website.
The difference with this core update, is that Google actually has a tool for testing your site. While initially, these Core Web Vital terms can be a little technical, there is no shortage of information available as to what they all mean and how you can make your website a star performer in these areas.
There is no question that CDNs can be very beneficial to websites, with 4 key reasons below:
1. Improve Website Speed
By distributing content closer to website visitors by using a nearby CDN server, visitors experience faster page loading times.
2. Reducing Bandwidth Costs
Bandwidth consumption costs for website hosting is a primary expense for websites. By using a CDN for caching and other optimisations, there is a reduction in the amount of data an origin server must provide. This results in lower hosting costs for website owners.
3. Increasing Content Availability And Redundancy
Large amounts of traffic or hardware failures can interrupt normal website function. Thanks to their distributed nature, a CDN can handle more traffic and withstand hardware failure better than many origin servers.
4. Improve Website Security
CDNs have also been known to improve the security of websites by providing DDoS mitigation, improvements to security certificates, and other optimisations.
If you’re thinking about installing a CDN on your website, you should consider many factors before moving ahead. While there are a lot of benefits to CDNs, there may just be other areas that your website should focus on before CDNs.
DigitUX can provide a free consultation for your business and analyse your website to find out where the best opportunities lie to enhance UX and increase conversions – just get in touch.