If you want to make your site accessible on the internet, you need to store it on a web server. There are many web hosting companies that offer hosting plans to allow you to get your site online. Based on the sharing of the server’s resources, these hosting plans are available in different forms like Shared Hosting plans, Cloud Hosting plans, Dedicated Server plans, etc. 

Regardless of the type of hosting plan you buy, choosing the right bandwidth is important for the performance of your site. In this article, we will look at how bandwidth impacts site performance.

What is Bandwidth in web hosting?

When you buy a web hosting plan, the host offers various features like data transfer permission, bandwidth, processing speed, etc. Of these, bandwidth is the speed with which you can transfer data to and from your site. Many new website owners tend to mix up bandwidth with data transfer limits.

Data transfer is the total volume of data you can transfer in a month and bandwidth is the speed with which you can make the transfer. While both are important for the optimum performance of a website, here are some factors that make bandwidth crucial to your site’s performance.

The following video explains bandwidth usage for your website:

4 Things to Know About Bandwidth Usage for Your Website

How Bandwidth impacts site performance

Here are some ways in which bandwidth affects site performance:

1. Download Speed

Since bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be transferred to and from your website, it has a direct impact on the speed of download of a file or web page. A slow download speed implies a website that does not perform optimally.

2. Data Latency

In current times, a website can receive users from any corner of the globe. If the server is located in the USA and a user from India tries accessing it, there will be data latency or time that the request will take to travel from the browser to the server and back. This can be reduced by having high bandwidth and result in a better-performing website.

3. Fast-loading websites

We live in times when websites are expected to load within a couple of seconds at most. Sites that take longer to load are not considered user-friendly and are ranked lower by search engines too. Hence, as a site owner, it is important to choose bandwidth after assessing your site’s requirements.

4. User engagement

Since a higher bandwidth helps improve loading times and download speeds, the user has a good experience and tends to navigate through the site more. This leads to higher user engagement and improves the chances of selling any product or service that you might have to offer. 

It is important to remember that bandwidth costs money. Hence, you can’t simply opt for a hosting plan with the highest bandwidth. Ensure that you assess your site’s needs and choose a plan with adequate bandwidth allocation.

Summing Up

Before you buy a web hosting plan make sure that you assess your site’s bandwidth requirements by calculating the average page size and the average number of monthly visitors and pageviews on your site. 

If you are opting for a Shared Hosting plan, then make sure that you check with the provider if you are allowed to increase or decrease bandwidth if needed. Also, choose between Windows and Linux web hosting carefully and consider all aspects. Good Luck!

Donny white