A complete guide to content delivery networks for publishers, and how online publishers benefits from using these CDNs.
Content delivery or content distribution is a series of distributed servers over a wide geographic area that help serve data with higher availability and performance. They can distribute text, media files, documents, applications, streaming media, social networks and more via the combined power of their connected servers.
Increasingly, more application service providers are building their own CDNs to improve delivery and lower the demand on their own infrastructure. Listing here some of the benefits of content delivery networks:
- Better connectivity and scalability for web publishers
- Reduced bandwidth consumption
- Reduced latency
- Better response to traffic spikes
- Outsourced infrastructure support
- Enhanced security
- Greater user satisfaction
- Improved content delivery
Let’s know about the benefits of CDNs in detail:
Better Scalability
In addition to facilitating end-users with faster load times, which translates into greater user experience, a content delivery network also rewards web publishers with increased traffic, higher page views, lower site abandonment, and stronger customer engagement.
Less Bandwidth Consumption & Latency
Web hosting companies charge businesses for any data they transfer from origin servers. A content delivery network, by storing web content copies closer to end-users, ensures less data transfer from origin servers, thereby reducing enterprise costs and bandwidth consumption.
Typically, the end-user requests data and the system transfers it in response. Latency is the lag between the request and the response, which increases as the distance between end-users and servers widens. Since CDN servers are on the “network edge” – nearer to end-users – they reduce the latency, optimizing performance.
Traffic Management
Viral videos, limited-time offers, or successful marketing campaigns can trigger a sharp and unanticipated spike in the demand for content. Leveraging load balancing for the distribution of demand across web servers, the content delivery network prevents traffic spikes from affecting website performance.
Enhanced Cybersecurity
A content delivery network employs automation and data analytics tools that help identify firewall issues, MITM (Man in the Middle) threats, and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.
Better User Satisfaction
Media playback issues, unresponsive applications, and slow load times are the primary reasons that make end-users avoid/abandon particular websites. A content delivery network minimizes performance issues, which boosts user satisfaction.
Accelerated eCommerce
A content delivery network facilitates quicker payment approvals, faster product page loading, and seamless transactions on mobile and desktop devices, enhancing the shopping experience. CDN also enables B2B and B2C eCommerce retailers to deliver applications and content speedily, even during times of high traffic.
What Are the Uses of a CDN?
The main use of a CDN is to deliver content through a network of servers in a secure and efficient way. These networks improve content security, performance and availability. They are also used to collect user analytics and track data on network traffic.
CDNs serve a range of content, including websites, mobile applications, streaming media and downloadable objects. Social media and search engine traffic go through CDNs.
Content-owning organizations use CDN services to accelerate the delivery of static and dynamic content, online gaming, mobile content and streaming video, as well as other specialized needs. Some examples of how CDNs are used include the following:
- An e-commerce organization uses one to deliver content.
- A bank uses a CDN to securely transfer sensitive data.
- A mobile application provider uses one of these networks to reduce load times and increase response times, improving mobile users’ customer experience.
What are examples of CDN platforms?
There are many CDNs available with a variety of features. Products include the following:
- Akamai Technologies
- Amazon CloudFront
- ArvanCloud
- CDN77
- Cloudflare
- Verizon Edgecast
- Fastly
- StackPath
If you’re looking for ways to speed up your website, protect it from DDoS attacks, or just want an all-around improved user experience, a CDN is an answer. We’ve looked at some of the best CDNs for publishers and Cloudflare and Amazon CloudFront are two of the top CDN platforms. With AdPushup Ad Revenue Optimization Platform, you can easily manage your ad revenue. So what are you waiting for?
FAQs
A content delivery network (CDN) is a collection of geographically distributed servers that deliver web content more quickly by bringing it closer to users.
The term CDN covers a wide range of content delivery services, including video streaming, software downloads, web and mobile content acceleration, licensed/managed CDNs, transparent caching, load balancing, multi-CDN switching, analytics, and cloud intelligence.
The main purpose of CDN is to speed up website loading times and reduce bandwidth consumption. There are typically multiple storage drives and large amounts of RAM on each CDN caching server.
Shubham is a digital marketer with rich experience working in the advertisement technology industry. He has vast experience in the programmatic industry, driving business strategy and scaling functions including but not limited to growth and marketing, Operations, process optimization, and Sales.
