Content loading speed is a critical indicator that influences the user experience and position of the site in search engines directly. To improve site loading time, you may ask the engineers to:
- Reduce the sizes of images;
- compress JS and CSS files;
- delete duplicated JS libraries;
- optimize database queries and DBMS (database management systems) settings
However, it could be insufficient. In this case we’d advise you to use CDN (Content Delivery Network). CDN hosting are the servers which cache a piece of data or a whole page. They are located between the user and the main server, storing information from different websites and transferring it to each other. CDN hosting is made available by providers. Since they host a network of interconnected caching CDN servers in different locations around the world, the distance almost ceases to affect the speed of data loading. Therefore, sites that use CDN hosting are loaded faster.
Advantages of CDN hosting
1. Increased loading speed
If your site has a large audience with different geography range, the download speed will vary depending on the distance of the user from the server. If the server is located in the Netherlands, users from Germany will download the site faster than users from the United States. To ensure that the speed does not depend on the distance of user location, a CDN hosting system that forwards to the nearest CDN server is used.
2. Higher fault tolerance
CDN is distributed. It allows to cope better with large volumes of traffic and equipment failures.
3. Cost reduction on main server
Through caching and various optimizations, CDN reduces the amount of data that the main server must transmit. This makes it possible to reduce the costs of the site owner.
4. Enhancing site security
Storing all data on a single server increases the possibility of a successful cyber-attack. For example, to stage DDoS (distributed denial of service attack), attackers send a large number of queries simultaneously what may result in the site being shut down (inaccessible for users). If CDN hosting is used, requests will be distributed to different CDN servers depending on user location. This will help spread the load and reduce the possibility that the website is down.
What services need to use CDN?
- Marketplaces (Amazon, AliExpress);
- Cloud gaming (GeForce NOW);
- Such sites as Origin, Steam, Epic Games Store;
- Owners of the websites that have mobile apps;
- Audio and video services (YouTube, Spotify).
If your site has a wide audience and a large amount of content, use CDN hosting to reduce its loading time. It allows you to cache some of the content or even the entire page, and increases user experience regardless of their geographical location. Quick website means satisfied clients.