What Is Latency?
Latency is the delay between asking for something online and starting to receive it — the lag before a page or response begins to arrive.
It matters because even small delays add up and make a site feel sluggish. Low latency makes everything feel snappy and responsive, which keeps visitors engaged.
An Everyday Analogy
If bandwidth is how many lanes a motorway has, latency is how long it takes the first car to reach you. A wide road still feels slow if the journey itself is long.
- The delay before data starts arriving.
- Affected by distance to the server.
- Reduced by CDNs and good hosting.
- Different from bandwidth (the capacity).
Why It Matters to You
Low latency is a big part of what makes a site feel fast and professional.
- Snappier pages keep visitors from leaving.
- Especially important for interactive apps.
- Serving content nearer users cuts the delay.
- We tune hosting and delivery to minimise it.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.