How a CDN can improve your SEO and how to set one up

Do you want to make your website faster and rank higher in Google? Then a CDN is a smart choice. In this article, we explain step by step what a CDN is, why it is important for SEO, and how you can use a CDN – both with an external partner and via your own subdomain. Everything in understandable language, without technical fuss.

What is a CDN?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. It is a network of servers that are spread all over the world. These servers store copies of your website files, such as images, CSS, JavaScript and sometimes even complete HTML pages. When a visitor visits your website, the nearest server delivers the content. This makes your site load much faster – no matter where someone comes from.

Why is speed important for SEO?

Since 2010, Google has used load time as one of the factors to determine how high a website ranks in the search results. Fast websites therefore get an advantage. In 2018, this became even more important when Google also started taking load speed on mobile devices into account in the algorithm. A CDN helps enormously to make your site faster, especially if you have a lot of visitors from other countries.

How exactly does a CDN work?

Suppose you have a website that runs on a server in the Netherlands. Someone from Australia opens your site. Normally, that person has to wait until all files are retrieved from the Netherlands. With a CDN, your website content is also stored on servers in, for example, Sydney. This means that the visitor no longer has to wait for data from the other side of the world. This can sometimes save a few seconds.

Benefits of a CDN for SEO

• Faster loading times: especially for visitors who live far from your server.
• Less downtime: If your server is offline for a while, the CDN can continue to show the content.
• Less load on your main server: especially useful with high traffic.
• Security: Many CDNs also offer protection against DDoS attacks.
• Better user experience: and that in turn increases your SEO score.

Example 1: Using a CDN via an external partner

The easiest way to use a CDN is via an external provider. You create an account, add your domain, and the service does the rest. Popular CDN partners include:

• Cloudflare
• Fastly
• KeyCDN
• Akamai

Here's how it works:

1. You create an account with Cloudflare, for example.
2. You change your DNS settings so that traffic goes through Cloudflare.
3. Cloudflare ensures that your files are cached worldwide.
4. Visitors automatically get the fastest version of your site.

Advantage: it is quick to set up, and you do not have to manage your own servers.

Disadvantage: you entrust your content to a third party.

Example 2: Setting up a CDN yourself with a subdomain

Would you rather keep everything in your own hands? Then you can also set up a simple CDN yourself by using a subdomain, for example, such as cdn.yourdomain.nl. You put your images, scripts and other static files there.

This is how it works:

1. Create a subdomain, for example cdn.yourdomain.com.
2. Upload your static files (such as photos and CSS files) there.
3. Refer to this subdomain in your HTML and CSS.

Example:

<img src="https://cdn.yourdomain.com/images/logo.png" alt="Logo">

If you have multiple servers (for example in Europe, the US and Asia), you can create a simple routing so that each continent gets its own files.

Advantage: full control over your data.

Disadvantage: you have to take care of hosting, security, updates and synchronization yourself.

CDN and SEO: What should you pay attention to?

Using a CDN is usually good for SEO, but there are a few pitfalls:

• Canonical URLs: Make sure search engines know what the original URL is, so you don't get duplicate content.
• Caching rules: Set up caching properly, otherwise visitors will sometimes see outdated content.
• HTTPS: Always use SSL certificates on your CDN subdomain, so everything runs via https://.

Combine a CDN with other SEO techniques

A CDN is a powerful tool, but it works best in combination with other optimizations:

• Compress images: so they load faster.
• Lazy loading: only load images when they appear on the screen.
• Minify CSS and JS: remove unnecessary characters for faster loading times.
• Use a fast web server: such as Nginx or LiteSpeed.

How much does a CDN cost?

Many CDNs have a free basic version. For example, Cloudflare offers free CDN functionality for small websites. Paid options are often based on traffic. The more people visit your site and the larger your files are, the more you pay.

Conclusion

A CDN is an excellent way to make your website faster, which directly contributes to a better SEO score. Whether you choose an external partner such as Cloudflare or get started yourself with a subdomain, you always gain in speed, stability and user-friendliness. And Google sees that too.

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