The answer is Cloud CDN, which is the correct choice because it leverages Google’s globally distributed edge cache network to serve video content with low latency and high throughput. By caching content at edge locations closest to end users, Cloud CDN minimizes round-trip time and offloads origin servers, ensuring smooth, high-bitrate streaming even during traffic spikes. On the Google Professional Cloud Developer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how Cloud CDN integrates with Cloud Load Balancer and Cloud Storage to deliver scalable video without requiring manual cache management—a common trap is selecting Cloud Storage alone, which lacks edge caching for global performance. Remember the memory tip: “Edge first, origin last”—Cloud CDN puts content at the network edge to keep latency low and throughput high.
PCD Practice Question: Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A media company wants to serve video content globally with low latency and high throughput. Which Google Cloud service is best suited?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cloud CDN
Cloud CDN leverages Google's global edge cache network to deliver video content from locations closest to end users, minimizing latency and offloading origin servers. It integrates with Cloud Load Balancer and Cloud Storage to provide high-throughput, low-latency streaming without requiring users to manage caching infrastructure.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Cloud CDN
Why this is correct
Cloud CDN provides global content caching at edge locations, ensuring low latency and high throughput.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Cloud Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Load Balancer distributes traffic but does not cache content at the edge.
✗
Cloud Storage with public bucket
Why it's wrong here
While Cloud Storage can serve content, it does not offer edge caching for low global latency.
✗
App Engine
Why it's wrong here
App Engine is a compute platform and not optimized for serving static content globally.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing load balancing (traffic distribution) with content delivery (caching at edge), leading candidates to choose Cloud Load Balancer when the question explicitly asks for low latency and high throughput for global video serving.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud CDN uses anycast IP routing to direct users to the nearest of over 100 edge points of presence (PoPs) worldwide, where content is cached based on configurable TTLs and cache keys. For video, it supports byte-range requests for adaptive bitrate streaming (e.g., HLS, DASH) and can be combined with Cloud Load Balancer's global anycast frontend to minimize hops. In real-world scenarios, a media company might use Cloud CDN with signed URLs to secure premium content while still benefiting from edge delivery.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications — This question tests Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Cloud CDN — Cloud CDN leverages Google's global edge cache network to deliver video content from locations closest to end users, minimizing latency and offloading origin servers. It integrates with Cloud Load Balancer and Cloud Storage to provide high-throughput, low-latency streaming without requiring users to manage caching infrastructure.
What should I do if I get this PCD question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This PCD practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCD exam.
Question Discussion
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