Increase site speed with a dedicated server

If you’re a decision-maker at a small-medium enterprise or a startup, you might have wondered whether dedicated hosting is worth the cost. While it’s true that UK dedicated servers often cost more than VPS or cloud-based solutions, there are still several important reasons to consider opting for a dedicated server.

Performance matters

Rapid site loading times aren’t just for the convenience of your customers. Your search engine rankings can be affected by large bounce rates caused by your site sitting in limbo instead of loading straight away. It’s commonly accepted that eCommerce site developers should be aiming for a loading threshold of no longer than two seconds – with an optimum load speed of under a second if possible.

Regardless of whether you’re running an eCommerce site or whether you simply want to advertise your services via your pages, visitors will expect a fast load time. If it takes longer than three seconds, you risk increasing your bounce rates as prospects will simply press “back” to return to their Google search – at which point, they’re going to consider clicking on your competitor’s sites instead.

Dedicated servers UK: how they can increase speed

When your site is situated on a shared server, the resources on that server are divided up amongst all the sites hosted there. It’s something of a free-for-all in terms of who grabs the resources available first. While shared servers will still dedicate a certain amount of resources to your site, it’s not always enough – particularly if your site, and the sites hosted on the same server, are experiencing high volumes of traffic.

With a dedicated server, you’re limited only by the resources on your server – and these resources (RAM, bandwidth) are unlikely to run out even at the busiest of times. This means that your server will never be bogged down while processing thousands of requests at the same time, which ultimately means faster loading times.

The lowdown

There’s ultimately nothing wrong with shared hosting plans, but UK dedicated servers are proven to increase site loading times. If you run a high-volume website, it’s certainly worth considering a dedicated hosting plan.