Bandwidth is how much data your website can send to visitors over a given period. Think of it like a highway: more bandwidth means more visitors can reach your site at once without it slowing down.
Also known as: Data transfer, monthly bandwidth
In plain English
Every image, page, and download on your site is data that has to travel from your server to each visitor. Bandwidth is the monthly allowance of that data your hosting plan provides - and every visitor's visit uses some of it.
Why it matters for your business
Exceed your bandwidth and your host may slow your site or suspend it until the month resets or you upgrade. Heavy images, video files, and unexpected traffic spikes are the usual causes.
When you'll run into it
When choosing a hosting plan, after a traffic spike, or when your host warns that you're approaching your monthly limit.
A real example
Example: your site gets featured on the local news site and 50,000 visitors stream your 8MB homepage images in one afternoon - that spike consumes your monthly bandwidth. Most small business sites blow through bandwidth limits from unoptimized images far more often than from actual visitor count.
Run into this on your site?
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