Global Impact of International Dedicated Servers on Website Load Times

January 29, 2024 / Hosting Server

As growing companies expand their digital footprint to other parts of the world, the need for robust, high-performance web hosting solutions becomes increasingly important. This is where strategically located International Dedicated Servers play a vital role, enabling organisations to offer seamless, fast and secure online experiences to their users across the globe. From e-commerce companies and streaming services to tech startups and financial institutions, having the ability to host servers closer to the user base significantly reduces latency, boosts website loading times and enhances overall user engagement. Here we look at the benefits of International Dedicated Servers in more detail.

How server location affects website speed

The relationship between server location and website speed is an important but often overlooked aspect of online performance. As online data needs to travel from A to B, the greater the distance, the longer it takes to get there. The physical proximity of a server to its users therefore has a direct influence on loading times and performance. The nearer the server, the more latency (delay) is reduced and the quicker a website can load or respond to interaction.

This is important as each second of delay can lead to decreased user satisfaction and lost revenue, particularly for resource-intensive platforms, such as e-commerce sites, streaming services or online gaming portals.

International Dedicated Servers address this challenge head-on by offering companies the ability to strategically locate their servers across different continents. This ensures that regardless of where the users are, they will get the performance and user experience they expect.

Industry-specific benefits

How do International Dedicated Servers help businesses? If we consider an e-commerce platform, having a dedicated server in the same region as its primary customer base can result in significantly improved page load times. This can enhance customer satisfaction and, consequently, improve sales. At the same time, financial transactions also take place quicker, which improves customer trust, reduces shopping cart abandonment and boosts conversion rates.

For customers of streaming and online gaming services, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing ‘the spinning circle of death’ go round and round as their device waits for the data to load. With a server located nearer to those users, they will experience fewer interruptions, higher quality playback and reduced lag. The result is less frustration and seamless enjoyment, with faster content delivery and buffer-free streaming helping to retain audiences in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

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Tech startups, meanwhile, can benefit from the scalability and security of these servers, allowing them to grow and innovate without the constraints of server capacity or performance issues. Universities and colleges that offer remote learning to overseas students can use these servers to provide their students with fast and reliable access to online learning resources.

At the same time, these servers also help businesses in any industry that run customer-facing or in-house applications where people or machines interact. Whether it’s video conferencing software, remote working platforms, fintech AI assistants, chatbots or virtual assistants, a server located nearer to users can speed up interactions and reduce lag.

Finally, given the financial and reputational consequences of non-compliance with data protection regulations, hosting data in the same region or country as users can help companies comply with local data sovereignty laws, like GDPR or CCPA, and increase user trust.

SEO benefits

The strategic placement of International Dedicated Servers also helps to boost a website’s SEO. For search engines like Google, page load speed is a key ranking factor. Faster websites, therefore, are more likely to achieve higher positions in search results. By hosting a website on a server close to its target audience, the significantly reduced load times mentioned above help to improve the site’s SEO ranking.

Additionally, search engines tend to favour websites that provide a high-quality user experience, and this is something that speed undeniably affects. In this way, by enabling websites to load and respond more quickly, International Dedicated Servers can help them attract more organic traffic and improve audience engagement.

Customisation for international audiences

To provide the solutions businesses need, International Dedicated Servers come with a range of customisation options. The most obvious customisation offered in these types of servers is the location. Businesses can choose to host their server in the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Holland or the UK – whichever is closest to their target audience. Of course, if a business operates multi-nationally or globally, it can opt to have dedicated servers in more than one location.

There are also options to customise hardware resources, like hard disk and memory, ensuring that the server chosen has the capacity to run the applications a business needs and can handle anticipated traffic. What’s more, as a business expands, companies can upgrade their servers at any time to meet the growing demand. In terms of software, they can run any application required and, with regards to the operating system, they can choose from Windows or Linux, including options such as AlmaLinux, Ubuntu, Debian, CloudLinux and Windows Server 2022. Additionally, they can opt for industry-leading control panels, like cPanel or Plesk, and take advantage of various security add-ons.

Overall, these servers provide exceptional control over the hosting environment and can be configured to meet the unique demands of the audience.

Factors to consider when selecting International Dedicated Servers

When choosing an International Dedicated Server, there are several important factors to consider to ensure the solution meets the company’s needs. Firstly, picking the right geographical location is vital in order to minimise latency and maximise website performance for the audience. As online availability is critical to business success and reputation, the server’s reliability is also crucial – so pay close attention to the provider’s SLAs and uptime guarantees.

Scalability is another prerequisite. As growing businesses need their infrastructure to scale seamlessly, look for a provider that offers flexible server configurations and easy scalability options. Security and compliance are other non-negotiable features given today’s sophisticated cyber threats and growing raft of privacy and data regulations, so it’s essential to choose servers that offer advanced security measures and regulatory compliance.

Finally, the level of support and managed services available from the provider can also make a significant difference. Round-the-clock technical support and proactive server management can massively reduce the technical burden on businesses, allowing them to focus more on their core activities.

Conclusion

For companies with audiences in different parts of the world, International Dedicated Servers present a number of important advantages. Offering low latency, faster loading times, improved connectivity, regulatory compliance and optimised SEO performance, they provide users with better customer experiences and help improve trust, satisfaction and, ultimately, sales.

Find out more about eukhost’s Managed International Dedicated Servers.

Author

  • Niraj Chhajed

    I'm a SEO and SMM Specialist with a passion for sharing insights on website hosting, development, and technology to help businesses thrive online.

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