A Content Delivery Network, or CDN, is used to bring the visitor important website content at high speeds and with peak performance. The priority of a CDN is to reduce latency, or in other words, reduce the amount of time it takes to load a website. Typically, latency is caused by two factors: routers and distance. A CDN helps with the latency created by physical distance by creating a distributed network that is set up across many data centers around the world.
In order to be effective, a CDN is made up of a few different parts including PoPs, caching servers, random-access memory (RAM), solid-state drives (SSD) and hard-disk drives (HDD). Latency can effectively be reduced with CDN Points of Presence (PoPs), which are servers located across the globe that reduce the distance that information needs to travel. To make response times even quicker, CDNs come equipped with caching servers, which put the desired information into temporary storage to minimize bandwidth use and decrease load times.
Depending on the provider and configuration, a CDN may be combined with request filtering such as a web application firewall (WAF). Caching and filtering address different needs: a CDN does not automatically clean an infected site or replace software updates. Personalized pages, shopping carts and logged-in areas need appropriate cache rules. Before enabling a service, check its features, exclusions and effect on your site; Nuagerie can help you review these points.
Even search engines use page load times as part of their algorithm for rankings. Faster load times mean better rankings and more traffic. To help, Google released online speed tools, which show how fast a webpage loads and tips on how to make it faster.
In today’s day and age, we want everything to be instant. Food, transportation, and maybe most importantly, the Internet. The slower a page loads on the Internet, the more likely a person is to abandon that page. Studies have shown that 40% of shoppers will abandon a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Having a fast web page response time is crucial to having a successful online business. This is where a CDN comes in handy. Using a CDN will ensure that any website is loading and responding at high speeds.
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