Search Engine Optimization is vital in a world where every commercial need typically starts with an online search. Every business competing in today’s online economy needs to ensure that their brand, product, or service catches the eye of prospective customers. In a cluttered digital environment where Internet users are continuously bombarded with vast amounts of information, getting your message across is vital. As an online search is a common starting point for everything we do online, ensuring your business, product or service has a high Google page rank is critical. By leveraging the services of a Content Delivery Network (CDN), you can improve the search ranking of your brand. It can give your business the edge it needs to differentiate itself from the competition and achieve success in a digitally-driven market.
CDNs Improve Page Load Speeds
One of the primary factors that help with search engine optimization and determines how your website ranks on a results page is the load speed of your site. Pages that load faster rank higher on Google and other search engines. Even if your site has fantastic content that is continuously refreshed, backlinks to other high-ranking websites, and is built with the latest mobile-first technology if your site is slower than your competitors it will rank lower on a results page.
CDNs help improve page load speeds significantly. By serving content through a distributed global network of nodes, they ensure that visitors to your site receive the best experience possible. As users receive their content from the closest CDN node, it reduces the time taken to load each webpage significantly.
CDNs Reduce Bounce Rate
A website’s bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave a site after only viewing a single page and is a crucial factor in developing a winning strategy for your search engine optimization. Although it is not explicitly stated, search engine algorithms use this measurement as a factor to determine the overall popularity and ultimately the ranking of a website.
The fact is, site visitors are prone to abandon a site if it is slow. Research shows that 40% of consumers will leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. In addition to that statistic, researchers have also discovered that 79% of online shoppers state that they are less likely to purchase from the same site again if they experience performance issues. CDNs help website operators reduce their bounce rate by ensuring every site visitor gets the best possible user experience. By providing a global platform that improves page load speeds, a CDN can help reduce a website’s bounce rate and improve its search engine ranking.
Search Engine Optimization with HTTPS Everywhere
Data is the currency of the digital age. As technology underpins every commercial operation, the information created by systems, services, and people has intrinsic value. In today’s online economy, data has become a valuable commodity making it a prime target for cybercriminals. In response to this growing threat, Google and other Internet giants are pushing for sites to protect their users and data with encryption. By securing your website through implementing HTTPS, you not only encrypt data flows to and from your site but also help users and browsers verify your website’s legitimacy and authenticity.
Google rewards this behavior by ranking sites protected with HTTPS higher than those that still use the non-encrypted HTTP protocol. In addition, if your site is not protected with HTTPS, browsers issue your visitors with a security warning affecting the reputation of your website detrimentally. As CDNs play an essential role in providing front end services to your site visitors, they can help you implement HTTPS. By ensuring your origin server and your CDN service both secure your site with HTTPS, you can protect your data and visitors from compromise and achieve a fundamental search engine optimization metric.
CDNs Improve Indexing for Image Search
Image search is often an overlooked metric in the world of Search Engine Optimization. However, if we consider that Google image search clicks are a vital source of site traffic, it is crucial that website operators follow the necessary due diligence and ensure that this influential factor forms part of their overall search engine strategy. For example, choosing the right file name and format can raise your site’s indexing rating. Other considerations such as scaling images, using responsive technology, and reducing file sizes can also help. In addition to these optimization measures, adding the relevant attributes to the image, and enhancing the appropriate asset’s meta-data can further improve your site’s search ranking.
A CDN can help you leverage the benefits of image search engine optimization by ensuring your pictures, photographs, icons, and other imaging web assets get indexed as rapidly as possible. In addition to providing a platform for improving the speed and performance of your static content, a CDN offers a fixed location for your web assets that help improve search engine optimization. By ensuring visitors that click on an image reach your site each time, they mitigate the risk of broken links that can impact your search engine ranking detrimentally.
Search Engine Optimization is a Journey and not a Destination
Consistent, high-quality, web traffic is vital to any business operating in today’s online economy. Website operators need to continuously configure and update their sites to ensure they achieve the best possible search engine ranking. However, unlike other technology strategies that may involve the implementation or deployment of a single measure, search engine optimization requires continuous effort and modification. For example, content quality, as well as content originality, are crucial in achieving a high page ranking. Linking to other sites and ensuring you build a social media presence are other activities that require constant attention. However, there is one essential search engine optimization technique where a CDN can ease the burden on your site operations team.
Page speed is a vital ranking factor. By leveraging a CDN, you can ensure visitors to your site experience the best performance possible from any location globally. A CDN can also help reduce your bounce rate, improve your site security by providing an HTTPS service, and can also enhance your image search indexing. If we take all these factors into account, every business competing in today’s digitally-driven world should be leveraging a CDN to ensure they achieve the best possible search engine optimization.