In today’s blog, we’ll unleash what Content Delivery Networks (CDN) is, how CDN works, the advantages of CDN and how it can be the best choice for your website.
In today’s technology-driven era, creating an online business from scratch is less difficult than running it successfully.
Website is the heart, and soul of an online business and hence, it needs to be above average. However, many businesses cannot grasp the importance of an efficient website and suffer from a heavy loss in the long run.
But, what if there is a tool to help you scale and improve your website’s performance? That’s where the role of Content Delivery Network (CDN) comes into play.
Want to take your online business to the next level? Don’t underestimate the potential of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)!
Read on to know more about Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
What is a Content Delivery Network (CDN)?
CDNs back most of our interaction on the internet. Whether you’re reading blogs, news, shopping online, or doing almost anything, CDNs play an invisible yet important role.
But, how?
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) facilitate content delivery on the internet. Contrary to a normal web host, the CDNs store a copy of your website’s content in multiple servers among various geographical locations.
Suppose, you operate an eCommerce platform from Mumbai, but your users are from all over the world.
If a person from California is willing to access your website, this might signal your server in Mumbai. However, because of the vast geographical distance, the website might load slowly.
Overall, because of this slow performance, your business might suffer from high bounce rates and your sales might also get affected.
CDN lets the user from California access your website within a few seconds through a local CDN server.
This way, CDN helps you to diversify your data on different servers to improve loading speed and avoid service failure.
So, who should use CDNs?
Content Delivery Networks can be used by almost every website owner. Bloggers, eCommerce stores, advertisement, media, online gaming, government, distance educational institutions, and more can leverage the power of CDNs.
Top 6 Astounding Benefits of CDN
Escalates Site Loading Speed
One of the primary tasks of CDN is to reduce latency and thereby improve the site’s loading speed. In the simplest sense, latency refers to the time delay between requesting data from the server and getting it. Latency can occur for many reasons; however, geographical distance plays an important role in this process.
But, how does CDN reduce latency?
CDNs store a cached version of a website on numerous servers (known as Points of Presence) in different geographical locations. Thus, when a user in California tries to check your Mumbai-based website, a local US PoP can access the data for that person.
In short, by saving your web content on various servers, CDN ensures quick loading, reduces latency, and decreases the load of data on servers.
If you are looking for a webmaster to help you with the configuration of CDN, website optimization, and regular updates, check out our web maintenance services.
Improves Connectivity and Scalability of Websites
A regular web host works as a data shelter for your website. Unfortunately, it does not attempt to improve the website’s efficiency and speed.
On the other hand, CDNs ensure a quality experience for every user. Unlike usual web hosts, with CDNs, a huge array of users can access your website simultaneously. It manages high traffic flow and aims to improve the user experience.
Moreover, CDNs work 24/7 uninterrupted. In ordinary website hosting, when the server malfunctions, your business suffers a loss too. However, CDNs work even if your actual server is facing some error. In this case, the CDN will use the cached content of your website and ensure smooth running.
A Boon for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
CDN plays a crucial role in improving the search engine ranking of websites.
The search engine, Google, made it clear that the sites with the fastest loading speed have higher chances of ranking on their SERP. As CDN escalates the site’s loading speed, it also improves your web’s chances of ranking high.
Moreover, image optimization and website security also play a major role in SEO. With CDN, you can ensure the best quality images to suit every device. Since almost every CDN provider offers malware protection, you can keep the scammers at bay and your website healthy and secure for ranking.
Looking to boost organic traffic to your website? Eiosys is a leading SEO service provider. Drop us an inquiry and we’ll get back to you with a custom SEO package for your website.
Enhances Website’s Security
Cybercrimes have become a matter of concern these days. With the increase in internet malpractices, the threat of being hacked by scammers looms over the head of every online business.
However, CDNs act as a protective fence on the thresholds of your server. It blocks hackers, scammers, or any other outside threat preventing them from getting inside your website.
With strong analytics and automation tools, Content Delivery Networks block DDoS attacks, firewalls, and other internet scams from entering your website.
Improves the Quality of Content
Imagine you’re watching an important video or listening to your favorite music/podcast and suddenly it starts buffering. Or suppose, you’re in an important online meeting and you experience poor audio quality and slow transmission.
We all hate to be in that position, don’t we? Poor content quality spoils our experience and mood. However, with CDN, you can not only improve the speed of delivery but also the quality of content delivered.
By distributing the content on various sources, CDNs strike the load-balance of traffic and improve the user experience.
Boosts eCommerce Websites’ Performance
In today’s internet era, people cherish prompt website performance. Especially in the eCommerce segment, customers expect a fast loading speed of images, prompt payment system, and an overall swift user experience.
CDNs are the best choice to improve the performance of your eCommerce website. It allows B2B and B2C retailers to deliver quick content, control and manage panels, diversify the website traffic and ensure large-scale availability of their business.
How Does CDN Work?
A CDN acts as a network of servers with the goal to deliver fast, reliable, and secure content. The primary aim of CDNs is to minimize the distance between user and server and thereby reduce latency.
Let’s demystify how CDN works!
CDNs store a cached version of a website’s content in multiple servers across the globe (a.k.a Points of Presence). These PoP servers handle prompt content delivery to users within their geographical proximity. For instance, a user in Canada can easily access your UK-hosted website through a local Canadian PoP.
In short, by distributing the data on multiple servers a CDN reduces traffic load, ensures quick content delivery, and offers other major benefits to the businesses.
Advantages of CDN Against Web Host
A traditional web host possesses the actual data of the website while a CDN stores a cached version of that data on multiple servers. Though CDN cannot replace the need for actual web hosting, it can accelerate the growth of the website and improve web performance.
With a regular web host, your website might have to bear the consequences of network failure and server failure. However, with CDNs, you can ensure the smooth working of your website (even during bouts of technical glitches).
Overall, CDNs can reduce the pain points of using traditional web hosting and help you to achieve your business goals!
Top 5 CDN Providers for Your Website
If you want to speed up your website’s performance and scale your business, don’t forget to check out the following 5 best CDN providers available in the market!
Cloudflare
Cloudflare is one of the strongest contenders in the CDN industry. It offers quality services at minimal rates.
With a comprehensive presence in 180 plus locations, Cloudflare strives to dramatically improve your websites’ performance, speed, and security.
The platform offers both free and paid solutions. The free plan is free from any limitations in the bandwidth, thus making it one of the desirable CDNs for WordPress websites.
On the other hand, paid plans help to ensure security control, quick data access, and more on your website.
Pros
- Setting up Cloudflare is pretty easy.
- The platform gives you complete freedom to control and manage your websites’ performance.
- Cloudflare makes use of the newest and the most efficient hardware to deliver 100% user satisfaction.
Cons
- The free plan does not offer security control.
- To protect your website from malware, spam, you have to upgrade to paid plans which cost from $20/ month to $200/ month.
Google Cloud CDN
With low-cost service and a comprehensive network, Google Cloud CDN is winning the hearts of developers. Cloud CDN helps to reduce network latency and offload origins from your website’s performance.
The best part of using Google Cloud CDN is, it offers complete security to your website without any additional costs along with an SSL certificate.
Pros
- It has Points of Presence (PoPs) in 90 plus locations across the globe.
- Cloud CDN also offers a $300 free trial credit to experience their services.
- Comes with flexible and affordable paid plans
Cons
- The “pay as you go pricing plans” sometimes become a hindrance for large-scale companies.
- Comparatively fewer features
CacheFly
CacheFly is one of the most easy-to-use CDN options in the market. It specializes in offering high-quality video streaming and audio experience to users. Through CacheFly, websites can also ensure DDoS protection and malware protection.
The interface of CacheFly is quite responsive thus, with minimal efforts you can set up and activate the system on your website.
Since the paid plans of CacheFly are quite expensive, it is mostly suitable for multinational businesses.
Pros
- Instant integration and activation.
- Amazing scalability.
- 24/7 technical support from CacheFly Teams.
- Real-time reporting.
Cons
- Comparatively fewer points of presence.
- Unsuitable for small to medium businesses due to high operation costs
Microsoft Azure CDN
Looking for ways to reduce website latency and quicken content delivery? Try out Microsoft Azure CDN.
Microsoft Azure CDN is a popular CDN for delivering top-notch static and dynamic content. Just like other CDNs, the platform stores a cache of websites on numerous servers across the globe to improve content availability. It further attempts to improve the site’s performance and scalability.
Pros
- 100% cost-effective
- Easy integration and activation
- Easy to manage and monitor
- Best for improving the performance of eCommerce websites
Cons
- Comparatively expensive
Rackspace
Rackspace is a renowned CDN with an impressive system to boost the performance of websites. It has a wide presence across the globe, suitable to deliver quality content within seconds.
The integration and activation of Rackspace CDN might be a technical process, so it’s advisable to take professional help. The “pay as you go feature” of this tool lets you pay for only the quantity of GB used by your website.
Pros
- More than 200 Points of Presence across the globe.
- Amazing cloud infrastructure.
- Excellent technical support.
Cons
- Comparatively expensive.
- Does not offer DDoS protection for websites.
Bottom Line
The world of online business is vast and complex. Without a sturdy website, marking a place in this industry is almost impossible. Through a web host, you can gain a presence on the internet but it provides few (or almost none) opportunities to enhance the scalability and performance of websites.
That’s why businesses love CDNs! By diversifying the content, CDNs allow your business to win millions of customers and thrive!
So, if you’re looking for ways to speed up the growth and performance of your website, CDNs are the way forward!
Eiosys is one of the top website development companies based in India. Our portfolio boasts well over a hundred successful websites that are both user-friendly and visually appealing. Send us an inquiry today to get a quote for your web development project.
