A content delivery network, or CDN, is essentially a network of servers that allow a user to access content from a server closer to them, rather than the original hosting server. This can be a great way to make content easier to access for people, but you might not know entirely why a CDN can be so helpful. Here are a few benefits of CDN you should look into how to optimize website performance with a CDN.
1. Faster Website Load Times
The first and most prominent benefit you’re likely to see from a CDN is faster load times. On mobile devices, the probability of a bounce at 5 seconds is 90% higher than the probability of a bounce at one second. Because a CDN allows a server to cache information and send it from closer to a user’s physical location, load times are faster, which means that bounces will be less likely.
2. Lower Bandwidth Costs
You might think that a CDN would be more expensive because you have to purchase access to that CDN. However, bandwidth costs go up the further your data has to travel. If you’re able to cache your data at a local CDN, your bandwidth costs will actually go down because your content isn’t traveling from your host server to every user and back on a regular basis. It might seem counterintuitive, but a CDN can reduce your costs overall.
3. Scalability for High Traffic
When a website is experiencing high levels of traffic, it naturally tends to slow down so it can manage all the requests the website is getting. When you only have one host server, this can slow things down dramatically during levels of high traffic. However, if you have a CDN, you’re more likely to be able to spread your traffic out between the different edge servers. That means even during high traffic times, your users are less likely to experience issues with lag.
4. Better Protection Against External Security Attacks
One of the most common security-based attacks that websites will experience is a DDoS attack, which stands for “distributed denial-of-service.” In one of these attacks, individuals will try to overwhelm a server with activity, making traffic spike so quickly and so unexpectedly that the server collapses under the weight of the traffic, causing it to go down for a period of time. However, because CDNs are able to distribute traffic across multiple servers, they can go for much longer without buckling, and many of them offer built-in DDoS mitigation and general security benefits.
Conclusion
So, these were some core benefits of a CDN. A CDN can be a great choice for many companies. They’re also often not very expensive, especially if you don’t need a lot of traffic coverage. If you’re hoping to decrease lag, increase high traffic handling, and reduce bandwidth usage, chances are that a CDN will suit your specific needs. Optimizing your web performance with a CDN is simple, easy, and effective, and it’s definitely something that you should be paying attention to.
