Today, in order to remain competitive in the digital marketplace, you need to publish high-value content and consistently deliver a positive on-page experience. Fail to do this and you’ll struggle to outrank your competitors.
There are many ways to achieve this end, however, in this article, we’re going to focus specifically on CDNs. What is a CDN and how can it benefit your SEO efforts?
What is a CDN?
CDN stands for ‘content delivery network’. CDNs refer to a system of servers distributed throughout the world, each of which are dedicated to delivering web pages and other web content to users based on their geographical location.
Naturally, the closer the user is to one of your servers, the faster they will receive all of the necessary information through your website.
Let’s look at these SEO experts in Melbourne with a local website as an example; users trying to access the website in New Mexico will receive the content much faster than a user based in London or Dallas, for example.
But why does it matter?
How do CDN’s work?
CDNs are a network of servers also known as POPs (points of presence). Each of these servers are spread out across the globe. The POP that is located closest to users trying to access your website will be connected to the user, thus ensuring the best possible connection.
How can a CDN benefit your SEO efforts?
So, what are the benefits of a CDN, and how can it benefit your SEO?
- The closer a user is to a POP server, the faster your website will load. Faster loading times mean an improved user experience (which is especially handy for mobile-responsive websites).
- You can utilise image compression to reduce the file sizes, also improving the performance of your website for users overseas.
- Content delivery networks help to limit the number of open connections on your website at any one time.
- CDN’s can be scaled quickly when you begin to experience higher levels of traffic to your website. If your business is undergoing extreme growth, having the server strength to support this growth is an essentiality.
- Your website will perform better thus improving the overall customer experience.
All of these benefits will reduce the bounce rate of your website, increase the time spent browsing your site, and indeed bolster your conversions. All of these metrics signal to Google that your website is stable, relevant, and authoritative, thus leading to increased rankings and greater visibility.
Furthermore, CDNs will ensure that each version of your website across multiple servers is identical. This can help combat duplicate content issues and improve the technical ranking factors of your website for SEO.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if your website load speed has left much to be desired lately, or you’ve had certain customers complaining about not being able to access and enjoy your website optimally, it may be worth considering a CDN as an alternative for your website.