A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of servers in many locations that stores cached copies of a website's images, scripts and other files. Visitors receive those files from a nearby server instead of the website's origin server, which shortens load times.
When someone visits the site, the CDN serves static content from its edge location if it has a copy, and fetches it from the origin only when needed. Many CDNs also compress files, optimise images and absorb traffic surges. Well-known providers include Cloudflare, Akamai and Amazon CloudFront, and many hosting and ecommerce platforms include one.
Online stores use CDNs to keep product pages fast during sales events and to handle traffic spikes, such as a launch or a Black Friday promotion. Restaurant and venue sites with heavy photography benefit from faster images, which supports Core Web Vitals scores.
Pitfalls include caching old content so price or stock changes do not appear, misconfigured rules that block real customers and extra complexity for dynamic pages such as carts and logins. Check cache settings, purge the cache after major updates and confirm the CDN has edge locations near your Australian audience. Many CDNs also offer security filtering, which is useful but needs correct setup.
A CDN is a practical speed and resilience upgrade. RetailCare's web hosting, AWS and ecommerce work can include CDN configuration.