A method and system for measuring application response delay is described. The method may commence with receiving a Domain Name System (DNS) request from a client DNS server. The method may include measuring round trip time between the client DNS server and a first Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) controller, between the first GSLB controller and a server load balancer (SLB) collocated with the first GSLB controller, and between the SLB and an application server. The method may further include receiving measurements of round trip time between the client DNS server and a second GSLB controller, between the second GSLB controller and an SLB collocated with the second GSLB controller, and between the second GSLB controller and a further application server. A cumulative response time associated with the application servers may be calculated based on the measurements to select an application server having a lowest cumulative response time.