Using the CDN can significantly improve site speed along with a host of other benefits. Still, they might not be perfect for every style of the site. See now if you need to use it or not. Today, we’ll check if your website need to use a CDN or not.
A slow-loading website is a death sentence to your online business. It might sound a little harsh, but it’s true. When visitors land on your site, they judge and decide whether you should be trusted.
And if you have a slow loading site, this is strike one against you.
Below you’ll learn what a CDN is, how they work, and why you might want to utilize the power of a CDN for your current WordPress website.
What is a CDN?
CDN stands for content delivery network. These networks help to serve up a version of your site that’s in the closest physical proximity to your user. Instead of having to send your website files across the globe, they can access a server right in their neck of the woods.
You can do all the onsite speed optimization necessary, but investing in a CDN might be brilliant if your site is still lagging.
This can be incredibly helpful for websites with a large global audience. Instead of visitors accessing your website stored on your Montana server, they can access a version of your site closest to them. This can significantly help to reduce loading time by seconds.
How Does It Work?
When a visitor accesses, your site-specific files need to load. Duplicates of these files are stored on C.D.N. edge servers across the globe. When someone visits your site, they can access the files closest to them in a physical location.
If you’re not using a CDN, these files will need to be accessed from a single server location, which could be on the other side of the world.
With a CDN, the files travel a shorter distance, so load times are shortened.
How Regular Hosting and CDNs Differ
Since you already have a WordPress site, your site is already hosted in a specific location. All your website’s files are stored on this single physical server, which users then access when they type in your URL.
CDNs work with your web hosting. Essentially, the CDN works to supercharge your existing hosting. You still store your regular non-static website files on your original host. But, the static files are present on different servers across the globe.
Note that some WordPress hosting providers have CDNs built into their hosting packages, so you won’t have to use a separate CDN on top of your existing hosting.
The Benefits of Website CDN Use
Improved speed and performance are the main reasons site owners decide to utilize a CDN. However, they offer more benefits beyond improved site performance alone.
1. Improved Performance
CDNs help significantly improve website performance and loading speed, regardless of where your visitors are.
This leads to an improved user experience, as your visitors won’t have to stick around for your site to load. Plus, you can see a little boost in the search engines, as loading speed is a current Google ranking factor.
2. Greater Uptime with Website CDN Use
If your site is prone to crashes from high traffic surges, then you need a CDNs on your side. CDNs are up so that your site never goes offline. You can simply utilize another existing server if one server goes dark or is over with traffic.
3. Improved Security with Website CDN Use
CDNs can offer a greater level of online security. For example, if a DDoS attack threatens your site, the traffic will be in a direction of a different server. By enabling your site to be up from multiple worldwide servers, you spread the risk of just having a single host.
Do I Need to Use a CDNs?
Most existing WordPress sites can benefit from using a CDN. Akamai recently predicted that over half of the website traffic would flow through CDNs within two years.
Some styles of WordPress sites won’t need to utilize a CDNs, for example:
- Firstly, all of your traffic comes from a single local source
- Secondly, you aren’t receiving high volumes of traffic, and your current host is enough
- Finally, you don’t have the budget for CDNs at this time
If you aren’t in one of the above scenarios, you should use a CDN to supercharge your current hosting.
Suppose your site is growing and you’re receiving large amounts of traffic, want to add another layer of security to your site, or have a worldwide audience that you want to serve more effectively. In that case, a CDN can be beneficial.
A CDN can be a worthwhile investment for your WordPress site. Some services like Cloudflare even offer a basic CDN plan for free, so you can see if it benefits your site.
Now over to you. Do you use a CDN for your WordPress site? Have you seen any improvements? Please share in the comments below.
