There are more and more people who prefer using CDN (Content Delivery Network) with their site. While it is considered to be highly beneficial, there are still some cases when it does not help and may even be useless.
First, let’s briefly describe what CDN is. This is a chain of cache servers that are used to store some structural components (CSS files, JavaScript, etc.) of sites and its content (various files, music, images, video). Being distributed around the world, these servers ease access to data for users and accelerate the speed of content delivery. When a person opens pages and downloads data, the nearest server is chosen, what makes content “travel” faster.
Generally, there are five basic advantages of CDNs:
1. Increased speed of information loading. This is the main reason to use CDN with your WordPress site. As far static components and files take most time while pages are loading, CDN system selects the nearest server and improves performance.
2. Website work optimization. CDN helps to reduce the load on your host. If you place all site’s resources on a private or shared server, you may experience some problems during high traffic periods. Using a CDN, you prevent temporary site failures, and sudden traffic changes may pass almost undetected.
3. Better integrity of data. When you replace or edit CSS or JavaScript files, it will be instantly reflected on all the servers of your network, which allows saving integrity and consistency.
4. Vast geographical coverage. This is the most crucial aspect when choosing CDN and deciding, whether you need it at all. Note that CDN provider performs not equally good in all regions, so choose servers that cover the majority of your target auditory. Sometimes, if most users are located in one certain place, CDN will be useless.
5. Profit-making solution. Despite the fact there are some free CDNs, paid services perform much better, and their cost is paid off quickly. As an owner of a WordPress site, you get a lot of benefits. First, no virtual setup of CDN is required (all providers already have a plugin for it). Secondly, WordPress also provides numerous plugins for CDN. Also you don’t have to buy additional hardware and computing resources (RAM and CPU).
Sounds good, but don’t rush to search for a CDN without considering whether it will be of any use for your exact site. If a CDN provider doesn’t have servers near to your target auditory, it will only add loading time, what complicates user’s experience.
Mind that CDN only is not a solution of all problems. If your site has complicated code and host is weak, CDN won’t certainly make resources load faster.
All in all, there’s no dire need of a CDN, if you develop an average site with low and medium user flow. But owners of high-traffic WordPress sites will definitely find it profitable.
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