Good news: surfing the internet is getting faster and faster. This is thanks to better data lines and the constant optimization of content, among other things. And that's exactly why there's no way around a CDN (content delivery network) these days. We'd like to explain what a CDN is and why every website, whether it's built withWordPress, another CMS (content management system), or statically, can benefit from it.
So that you can follow along in detail, we'll start with a little background information and begin with a brief explanation of how anonline page actually works.
How a website works
Whether using a laptop, smartphone, or tablet, when we type a URL into the browser, a website appears on our screen almost immediately. However, very few people understand the entire process behind this. (Hint: "magic" is almost the right explanation).
That's why we've illustrated this process roughly and simply in the image below:
As soon as you, the user, have entered and confirmed the URL (www.vwx.yz) in your browser, thedomain/URL is converted into an IP address. An IP address is like a house number for a data center or server. We use URLs because words are easier for people to remember than a sequence of numbers (192.168. ... etc.). Once you have started the request and the server to which theURL/IP refers has been found, the actual website is retrieved and sent back to you through the network – and you see the page on your screen.
What is the purpose of a content delivery network?
Our illustration has simplified the process of accessing a website, but in reality, a website's server may be located in the US – and thus geographically far away from us.
You can think of the internet as a highway on which the website's data packets are transported very quickly from A to B. However, the further B is from A, the longer the packet takes. CDNs are nothing more than additional data centers that are strategically distributed around the world and store a copy of the requested web page on so-called "replica servers." This means that a copy of the website you are visiting can be stored much closer to you, the user, and the page is displayed more quickly.
The positive effects of a CDN are:
- The website and its content load faster because both latency (response time) and distance are reduced, and data throughput is higher.
- The original server is relieved, as part of the data traffic, and thus the heavy work, is handled by a CDN network.
- By caching website content on the servers, it can be made available to users more quickly, which also results in faster loading times.
Certain CDN providers have several hundred data centers distributed worldwide, which are connected to the global backbone (a main Internet highway) or Google's own backbone (Premium Tier Network).
A CDN is a networked system of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs). Each POP manages a copy of the data.
Well-known CDN providers
There are severalcontent delivery network providers. We have compiled a list of the most popular providers, some of which are ideal for integration withWordPress sites and even offer their own WordPress plugins.
Cloudflare
Unlike other CDN providers, Cloudflare is unique in that it is a so-called "full proxy service." This means that instead of just loading parts of a page such as images, CSS, or HTML pages via a CDN using a new subdomain URL (e.g., cdn.cubetech.ch), the Cloudflare server takes over the entire website, including its security functions, and acts as a DNS server. With over 100 CDN nodes distributed around the world, Cloudflare offers a free basic plan (Free Plan) as well as premium access for $20 per month, a business account for $200, and an enterprise plan starting at $1,500.
Cloudflare is also known for protectingWordPress sites from DDoS attacks. Using so-called page rules, Cloudflare can store entire pages and their content in the cache and also provide even better protection for individual parts of the website againstbrute force attacks, for example. Furthermore, images on a webpage are optimized for the respective end device during retrieval using "image resizing"or "Mirage." With "Polish," Cloudflare also offers to optimize images and convert JPG or PNG to the smaller webP format so that the page loads even faster. Those who prefer to store their videos elsewhere than onYouTubecan also do so via Cloudflare's live streaming service. This means that the video is also loaded via the nearest server, which significantly improves the user experience for visitors to a page.
Cloudflare is backed by big-name companies such asGoogle, Microsoft, and Qualcomm, which means Cloudflare also benefits from Google Cloud's Premium Tier Network.
Thanks to the Cloudflare WordPress plugin, basic settings can be applied automatically, and the cache is cleared as soon as ablog article or new page is published or updated. This makes Cloudflare CDN the perfectWordPress CDN for us.
Additional features offered by Cloudflare CDN:
QUICHTTP/3
Enhanced HTTP/2 Prioritization
(For reasons, we will refrain from providing a detailed explanation in this article and simply link to the provider's offers).
Akamai Technologies
Akamai is undoubtedly the largest and oldest CDN provider worldwide. In addition to big-name customerssuch as Facebook,Akamai offersone of the best "on-the-fly" image optimizations. Unfortunately, Akamai comes with a hefty price tag, which means that this provider is not an option for most people.
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon is not only known for shopping, but also for itsAmazon Web Services. These are used by major brands such as Dropbox and Twitch. In addition to a premium DNS service, Amazon's many servers, including CloudFront and EC2, enable images, HTML, CSS,JavaScript files, and even entire databases to be stored on its servers and made available worldwide with short loading times.
KeyCDN
KeyCDN is one of the most popular WordPress content delivery networks alongside Cloudflare. Unlike Cloudflare, it is nota full proxy service, meaning that only content such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript, or PHP files are delivered. However, images can also be stored with KeyCDN on request. Incidentally, the service is headquartered in Switzerland. In addition to the popularWordPress plugin "Cache Enabler,"KeyCDN is also the developer ofthe image optimization plugin "Optimus,"which was previously developed by Sergej Müller.
Popular WordPress plugins that work with CDNs
Although many CDNs have their own WordPress plugins, caching plugins such as wpRocket orAutoptimize offer integration so that the optimized files can be provided to the CDNcache servers without any problems.
In addition to "wpRocket" and "Autoptimize," it's also worth checking out "perfmatters"and the official Cloudflare plugin. Except for the one from Cloudflare, all of them offer the option to define specific CDN URLs. "wpRocket" is a cachingplugin that preloads every page on your computer and offers a variety of valuable features for WordPress users. Recommendation for wpRocket users: With a separate add-on module, the software gets the same simplecache clearing features as the officialCloudflare WordPress plugin.
Conclusion
For these reasons, there is definitely no way around using a CDN in 2020. Even if the loading time is only improved by 100 milliseconds through the use of these networks, this can already have a major impact on a page'ssearch engine ranking. In addition to improvements in overall performance, the shorter loading time also has an effect on SEO (search engine optimization ), as Google prefers faster pages and your visitors appreciate the better user experience.
That's precisely why we activate Cloudflare CDN for all our WordPress customers by default, to ensure fast and reliable website delivery worldwide. As mentioned, this also reduces requests and data traffic to our server, freeing up more capacity for other functions within WordPress. At the same time, thanks to Cloudflare, we can do without many additional, bulkysecurity plugins, as Cloudflare offers effective DDoS protection by default.
in Switzerland