Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Many online services use a content delivery network (CDN) to send photos and other files as quickly as possible. This improves site speed, which is a metric used by Google and other search engines as a ranking factor for search results.  

CDNs work by keeping copies of commonly used images and files simultaneously hosted at several data centers (nodes) around the world. These images and files are delivered by the node closest to the shopper, decreasing the distance they have to travel, thus making the site load faster. In this way, your store loads just as fast in Asia as it does in North America, improving the storefront shopping experience.

Currently, BigCommerce has CDN nodes in London, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

We recommend taking advantage of the BigCommerce CDN if you want to customize your store's design. See the Dev Center for more information on Theme Assets for Stencil themes.

Improving Image Load Speed

Slower image load speeds can be caused at times by the shopper's own Internet Service Provider (ISP) or due to javascript code. It's recommended to use a page load testing site like WebPageTest for further investigation. BigCommerce uses Responsive Images to further ensure that images are optimized for best performance. 

See the BigCommerce Community's Themes and Design for more discussion on improving page load speed.