---
title: "CDN – how it speeds up your website | Sweet Lava"
description: "A CDN stores copies of your site on servers around the world and serves them from the nearest one. See when it pays off."
url: https://sweetlava.eu/en/glossary/cdn/
lang: en
alternate_pl: https://sweetlava.eu/pl/slownik/cdn/
---

Technology 

# What is CDN (content delivery network)?

A CDN (content delivery network) is a network of servers in many locations that stores copies of a site's files and serves them from the point nearest the user. The result: the site loads fast no matter which country the visitor is in.

Without a CDN every visitor downloads the site from one server – say, in Warsaw; a user in Lisbon waits longer because the data physically travels further. A CDN keeps copies of the files in dozens of locations and serves them from the nearest one, cutting load time and improving Core Web Vitals.

The second gain is resilience: a CDN absorbs sudden traffic spikes (a campaign, a media mention) and filters some attacks, including DDoS. In the JAMstack architecture the whole site lives on the CDN – which is why such sites survive loads that would take down classic hosting.

**Practical note:** overly aggressive anti-bot settings on a CDN can block search-engine crawlers and AI bots without the owner's knowledge – quietly cutting the site out of Google and out of ChatGPT's answers. After enabling protection, check the logs to see who is actually getting a 403.

## Related services

- [ Custom website design & development → ](https://sweetlava.eu/en/services/websites/)

## Related terms

- [Crawlers & AI bots](https://sweetlava.eu/en/glossary/ai-crawlers/)
- [Core Web Vitals](https://sweetlava.eu/en/glossary/core-web-vitals/)
- [JAMstack](https://sweetlava.eu/en/glossary/jamstack/)

## Planning a new company website?

Design and code grow in one team, so what you approve in the mock-up reaches production with no surprises. Scope and quote within a few days.

[ Get in touch ](https://sweetlava.eu/en/contact/?source=glossary-cdn)