Content Delivery Network, abbreviated as CDN is a system or network of distributed servers that ensure the availability of all content on your site. It delivers your site data to users based on important factors like their geographical location, the webpage origin, and the location of the content delivery server. We will discuss CDN for your WordPress Blog.
In simple words, CDN enables visitors to have faster and easier access to your site. It is one of the best ways to enhance the speed of your site.
How Does CDN Work?
CDN works in a straightforward but effective way to decentralize your content at different locations for faster retrieval and instant access. We can understand this with the help of an example of a user who comes to visit your site and loads your home page. When he enters the URL of your site on his browser, it automatically sends a request to your web host server. Now assume that around a hundred more users request the same page from the same server at the same time on your site. This can result in server overload which will lead to the slow page and site loading speeds. In the longer run, this means lost customers.
To combat this, CDN comes in with its active network of high-quality servers spread across the world. These servers have your site data stored on them so that if multiple people access your site simultaneously, they can be redirected to the closest server and retrieve data from different sources. The static content including images, style sheets (CSS files), javascript and Flash is cached and stored on all of these servers for the users. This increases your page and site speed exponentially.
To summarise, CDN work on the principle of segregating users and diverting them to different channels so that they can access sites faster depending on their location.
Why is essential CDN for your WordPress Blog?
As you can see, using a CDN has a massive impact on your website. Hence, for a better understanding, we have compiled all the points that make CDN essential for your WordPress blog. Take a look.
- Incredible Site Speed – CDN instantly enhances your page loading and site loading speeds and enables hassle-free access to your site. It delivers the content to users from the nearest servers and enables effective delivery of all data even if one of the servers fail.
- Crash Resistant Sites – Besides improving speed, one of the most important objectives that CDN was introduced for was to make your site ‘crash resistant’. Website crashes are usually a result of huge spikes in traffic which an individual server is not able to handle. To prevent this, CDNs distribute this traffic to multiple servers. These servers together handle the burden incredibly well and save your site from crashing even at the highest traffic levels.
- Enhanced User Experience – According to research, if your site is slow, then around 66.67% out of all site visitors leave your site 1 out of 4 times without buying anything. This is called the bounce rate, and it can be lowered only by enhancing the user experience. CDNs promote improved speeds and better accessibility which automatically leads to the best user experience. Not only this but it also helps to attract new visitors, and increase page views and numbers of pages viewed by an individual user.
- Optimized site SEO – Under the ‘How Google Search Works’ Tab in the official Google guidelines, it has clearly stated that ‘To improve your serving and ranking you need to make your page fast to load’. CDNs are perfect at picking up your site speed magically and hence in improving your SEO and search engine visibility.
Which CDN Will Be Best For Your WordPress Site?
There are many good Content Distribution Networks currently available in the market. However, we would recommend you to go with either MaxCDN, Sucuri or Cloudflare to get the best results. These offer the most elaborate set of features and functionalities with an easy user interface and installation process.
We hope this article has helped you to understand everything you need to know about CDN for your WordPress blog. Remember, adopting a CDN is not optional but mandatory for heavy traffic sites to function smoothly and effectively. So, choose your CDN today and get ready to improve the experience of your site visitors with enhanced speeds and instant retrieval. If you have any queries or suggestions regarding CDN, feel free to mention it in the comments below.
