The answer to this question can be best delivered in an elaborative manner. However, to briefly describe it, CDN is an integral part of the internet enabling users to access relevant content at faster speeds irrespective of their geographical locations. Almost all internet users are benefitted from the CDN mechanism on a daily basis.
Every bit of content present on the internet is presented to the users after smartly analyzing the location of the user. This mechanism enables the CDN to deliver webpages faster and reduces latency. It also optimizes access to images and videos along with the written content.
People generally tend to invest a lot on faster internet connections to tackle issues like lagging. But it might not be sufficient to keep latency at bay. To completely solve the problem of delayed loading of web pages, an efficient CDN server has to be set up in relatively close geographical proximity.
There are a lot of factors decisive of delayed loading other than slow internet connections. The most important of them being website’s distant hosting server.
CDNs can be thought of as a tool to virtually shorten physical distances between the content provider and viewers. Efficient CDNs successfully cut all lagging issues and provide viewers with relevant content at the earliest.
How CDN works?
In order to virtually minimize the physical distance between website servers and visitors, the CDN mechanism stores the content’s cached version in different geographical regions.
These acquired areas are also known as ‘point of presence’. Such points of presence are responsible for quick delivery of content to the visitors located in close proximity.
This mechanism enables CDN to present a particular sample of content to different locations simultaneously. So, there essentially exist cached servers in accessible distances to the user.
Whenever, there is a request made from a regional visitor, the cached servers take up the responsibility of delivering the required material to the visitor rather than sourcing it from original servers.
Sourcing the content form original servers for a visitor located far across oceans would have much lag associated.
This gives a clear idea about the working of CDN. People interested to know more about it can read along further.
Who uses CDN?
CDN is basically used by millions of people worldwide. The number of users keeps growing as time ascends. More than half of the online traffic all over the world is handled by CDN servers. Growing businesses with traffic inflow from different continents must use this tool to efficiently manage the traffic load and serve the visitors well.
It will only cause a bad influence to the website if the loading time is substantially high. As a matter of fact, a second-long delay in loading time can cause a 7% fall in conversions.
It makes sense after all, visitors have thousands of other pages offering similar content. Why would people stick to a particular website that makes their curiosities wait? Clearly, any aspiring business would want this scenario to be non-existent.
CDN is indeed a smart tool to handle visitors from all around the globe. But it can have negative impacts on a business if not correctly used. Using a CDN for a local startup that has limited regional traffic would only hinder the growth of the website. So, CDN can prove to be very beneficial for growing websites that receive diverse traffic from all around the planet.
Advantages of CDNs
CDNs can be of great benefit for growing online businesses that receive a regular inflow of traffic from different geographical regions. Visitors can be provided with satisfactory experiences even after being far away from the original server.
1. File mirroring
CDN servers replicate the original content and then direct it to the desired locations. This process of duplicating the content can be very useful at times of emergencies.
Also, if a natural calamity causes loss of original material, people will always have a secured copy at some CDN server. So, another magnificent use of CDN servers can be data retrieval.
2. Quick access
Researches show that faster loading of web pages can substantially improve sales and promise potential buyers. People always love good service. So, providing the visitors with relevant information in less time is a key element to portray good image of the company.
3. Efficient management of traffic
As an online business grows in terms of visitors, it becomes difficult for the original server to manage them well. Getting help of a CDN server take some load off the original server and improve the quality of data delivery to the traffic.
4. Choose the best Content delivery networks
There are many CDN providers that do not charge you for their service. On the other hand, if you’re looking for well-established promising CDNs, we have listed some below.
MaxCDN, Akamai, CloudFlare, KeyCDN, Amazon CloudFront are some of the best in business. These are the ones that handle large volumes of traffic from various e-commerce sites. Picking any of these would certainly help you to serve your traffic with instant delivery of material
Wrapping up
Individuals with growing online businesses can now enhance their data delivery performance and subsequently ensure that the inflow of traffic produces optimal conversions. Be it content in text, images, videos or any other form of material. CDNs can take care of the visitors and provide them a quality stay on your web page.
Another benefit associated benefits of using CDNs is automatic replication of your content, which ensures retrieval upon accidental destruction of original material.