Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for your website is a revolutionary addition to common web hosting. Instead of hosting your website on one server, a CDN enables you to have your files globally distributed through different edge servers. The main purpose of choosing a CDN is to obtain a higher level of user satisfaction and improve the overall user experience.
A Content Delivery Network duplicates the content from your origin server and it delivers the content to your worldwide users through globally located edge servers. The edge server which is geographically closest to the user who requests a certain piece of content from your website delivers it to them.
The benefits of CDNs have been recognized by many website owners. Some of them are enhanced speed and the faster loading time of your website, improved SEO results, scalability, and many more.
Read further to find out the 7 most important reasons why you should consider implementing a CDN for your website.
#1. Improved Website Performance and Speed
The first and most important reason to integrate a CDN is increased speed that will allow your website to load faster. This goes hand in hand with user satisfaction. According to Google, if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 53% of your potential visitors will leave and never come back. Losing visitors is bad for business and your ranking as well.
If you invest in a CDN, then the “travel time” of the data to the visitor is shorter. This is possible because your visitors will be physically closer to a certain edge server. Your website will take shorter to load, and that will enhance its speed and performance. A CDN also helps your website be optimized for any device. This way mobile users will be able to approach your website fast and your content will be adjusted to their mobile screen.
#2. Higher SEO Ranking
According to Google’s Webmaster, your ranking has a lot to do with your website’s speed. So, the faster your website, the higher the chance of getting a top rank in the SERPs. Thus, your SEO results aren’t solely based on the content and keywords on your website, but on the speed and its technical quality.
Ranking high goes hand in hand with website performance. No matter what is causing your website to be slow, whether it’s the images, videos, GIFs, or something else, a CDN will fix the issue. If you host your images on a CDN then the website will load in a blink of an eye. This way, you’ll easily handle some of the issues which are weighing your site down.
#3. Handling Traffic Spikes
Using a CDN will guarantee your website an increase in uptime, at any moment. Traditional hosting servers can’t handle your website traffic during peak times, while a CDN can offer you stability. If one of your edge servers happens to fail, its job will be taken by “its neighbor”, always putting your users first. So, a CDN is a very reliable option that will offer your website fast delivery, less downtime and improved user experience.
#4. Improved Security
A CDN will protect the data on your origin server through its network of edge servers. DDoS attacks usually happen when hackers put a heavy load on your origin server and take advantage of its resources. This technique will crash your server and bring your website down.
Using a CDN will serve as protection from any potential DDoS attacks to your website. This is because CDNs carry most of the load and the origin server is never weighed down enough to be susceptible to attack. If one of your edge servers is attacked, the content will be overtaken by the one next to it. This way your website won’t experience downtime.
With a CDN, your origin server can’t really be attacked, because the hacker will have to go through all of the edge servers to get to it. Another way to protect your origin server if it somehow gets hacked is by integrating an SSL. The SSL sets a self-expiring date for all of the resources, limiting their exposure to the hacker.
#5. Scalability
If you’re looking for a network that will allow you fast scalability and expandability, then CDNs are a great option. Many people use them to host large networks of site, which is what services like LaunchCDN have guides on. With it, you can easily expand your reach to any region you prefer. The large number of edge servers of a CDN are a safe option no matter if you are a new online business, already established on the market, have tons of traffic or are about to grow.
Since you can’t quite predict what will happen to your website in the digital world, you should consider relying on a CDN to provide you benefits in the near future as well.
#6. Easy Integration
A CDN can be easily integrated into your website no matter which platform you’re using. This makes the network be applicable to WordPress, Joomla, Launchrock, Drupal, etc. as well as frameworks such as Laravel and Zend.
#7. Affordable Option
In the long run, investing in a CDN is an affordable option. Having in mind the profit, the SEO rankings and the website performance that a CDN can boost, it’s definitely an investment worth making. A CDN will handle more than 60% of your website load while saving your bandwidth consumption. So, if you aren’t spending your bandwidth, the bill from your web hosting provider will be lower.
Conclusion
All in all, the benefits of using a CDN are important to both big and small businesses. In the long run, a CDN can be a cheap option that will save your money you would have otherwise spent elsewhere, for instance on your web host. If you choose a CDN you will see a spike in your traffic that will be easily handled, a chance for scalability and a reliable network that will keep you safe from attacks.
Implementing a Content Delivery Network has never been a more valuable alternative to obtaining high SEO results while improving your overall website performance. You and your users will be more than happy. So, why don’t you try it and see how it goes?
