Useful for an international audience, and often unnecessary for a Dutch customer base.
A CDN, content delivery network, is a network of servers located around the world that stores and delivers copies of your site from the location closest to the visitor. This shortens the travel time of the data. The gain is large with an international audience and small within one country.
IN COMMON LANGUAGE
When it pays off
If you have visitors in multiple parts of the world, a CDN makes a noticeable difference: the difference between a server in Amsterdam and a visitor in Australia is significant.
With a Dutch site with Dutch visitors and a Dutch server, that distance is already small. Then a CDN yields little and adds an extra party.
WHY IT MATTERS
Which is often more effective
With a slow Dutch site, the profit is almost always in images and scripts, not in server distance.
First, resize your images and throw away unused scripts. If it remains slow, then look at infrastructure.
- International audience — that's where the profit really is.
- Dutch visitors — distance is already small.
- Images first — almost always the bigger profit.
- Additional party — also a privacy consideration.
- Measure before and after — otherwise you won't know if it helped.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
More about a CDN
Do you use a CDN?
Only if there is an international audience. For Dutch customers we host in the Netherlands, which is fast enough provided the site is light: which it is with us.
Does a CDN make my site more secure?
Some providers offer protection against attacks. That is a real advantage, but it is a different reason than speed and you have to weigh that separately.
Does it cost extra?
There are free tiers that are sufficient for small sites. Cost is rarely the objection; the question is whether it solves something you have.
CONTINUE READING
Of course, continue reading about this subject.
Speed where it really sit?
We measure your site and tell you what the biggest culprit is: usually not your server.