Should we use Cloudflare
-
Hi all, we want to speed up our website (hosted in Wordpress, traffic around 450,000 page views monthly), we use lots of images. And we're wondering about setting up on Cloudflare, however after searching a bit in Google I have seen some people say the change in IP, or possible sharing of Its with bad neighbourhoods, can really hit search rankings.
So, I was wondering what the latest thinking is on this subject, would the increased speed and local server locations be a boost for SEO, moreso than a potential loss of rankings for changing IP?
Thanks!
-
Hi
Great question.
Google stopped looking at IP address about two years ago.
I am sure that there IP wasn’t that factor for SEO unless they where on a PBN or it was over two years ago.Many very large sites use CloudFlare or something else like it
I personally would recommend Fastly if you want something that with shrink images & work like CloudFlare but do the things that only CloudFlare Enterprise a $5,000 a month offering can do.
I don’t know you’re server config but I know time after time Fastly has been much faster then CloudFlare
Lastly I do want to CloudFlare has gotten a bad name because they do not regulate who or what content is allowed on there platform booters use them to attack & to prevent DDOS attacks. With a platform that this has lead to there IPs being listed as spam so I have seen a case when I used.
9.9.9.9 or IBMQuad9 as reclusive DNS where I could not see a CloudFlare site because one ip was listed as spam & 9.9.9.9 just shows a 500 error it was fixed when I changed my local DNS to a dns system that didn’t block spam IPs. this also only happened once so it is very unlikely to happen to you.
Change in IP, or possible sharing of Its with PBNs / bad Neighborhood’s, can really hit search rankings but it is very unlikely that google will think that is your domain if the IP is dynamic like CloudFlare . it not going to hurt you because google looks at domains not IPs now.
but this is not something I would worry about from CloudFlare it cleans IPs so if you get one you will have a new one sooner if you tell them also the business & Enterprise plans are much cleaner the the free plan
this is just one more reason https://www.fastly.com/
But the short answer is yes it’s safe to use.
do you mind telling me what you’re hosting setup is now & who you host with?
Hope I have been of help,
Tom
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
If I'm using a compressed sitemap (sitemap.xml.gz) that's the URL that gets submitted to webmaster tools, correct?
I just want to verify that if a compressed sitemap file is being used, then the URL that gets submitted to Google, Bing, etc and the URL that's used in the robots.txt indicates that it's a compressed file. For example, "sitemap.xml.gz" -- thanks!
Technical SEO | | jgresalfi0 -
Will using query string in the URL and swapping H1s for filtered view of the blog impact SEO negatively?
This is a blog revamp we are trying to personalize the experience for 2 separate audiences.We are revamping our blog the user starts on the blog that shows all stories (first screen) then can filter to a more specific blog (ESG or News blog). The filtered version for ESG or the News blog is done through a query string in the URL. We also swap out the page’s H1s accordingly in this process, will this impact SEO negatively?
Technical SEO | | lina_digital0 -
Is using part of a meta description already on your site for another product considered duplicate?
I'm writing meta descriptions for this site, trying to keep them different, however, for two product types, I want to add the same info I added in the other likeminded product's meta descriptions. Is this ok as long as it's not the whole sentence or am I really to rewrite the same info another way, which is hard for " quick shipping available for x amount of colors ". Any Advice?
Technical SEO | | Deacyde0 -
Can you use Screaming Frog to find all instances of relative or absolute linking?
My client wants to pull every instance of an absolute URL on their site so that they can update them for an upcoming migration to HTTPS (the majority of the site uses relative linking). Is there a way to use the extraction tool in Screaming Frog to crawl one page at a time and extract every occurrence of _href="http://" _? I have gone back and forth between using an x-path extractor as well as a regex and have had no luck with either. Ex. X-path: //*[starts-with(@href, “http://”)][1] Ex. Regex: href=\”//
Technical SEO | | Merkle-Impaqt0 -
Using images from one domain on another?
I run a travel photography business where I sell fine art prints. I've been toying with the idea of creating a few new websites about some of the places I've traveled to. This is for a few reasons. First, because I love talking about my travels. But second, because I feel like it might be a good way to bring in more print sales from those places. The question I have, if I were to use the images from my main photography sales domain on a different domain, how does this affect SEO? These images filenames for the photographs are already optimized well for searching. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | shannmg10 -
How is this site ranking so well? Their link profile is awful and website is messy and difficult to use?
Hi folks, This question has been baffling me for some time now and I'm still struggling to get to the bottom of it. www.sterlingbuild.co.uk is the website of choice for Google when it comes to searches relating to roof windows, velux windows, fakro windows etc. I can't understand why? Their link profile is atrocious. I'm struggling to find one 'high quality' link in their profile at all. Most of their links are guest blog posts which Google is apparently now treating as spam, or links from other sites that they own - also spam. The design of the site is incredibly messy and confusing. But one of the biggest flaws of the site (which I am suspicious may also be what is helping them) is they list every single different size of window as a different product. So whereas with most websites in this market, you search for the type of window you want e.g. a VELUX GGL 3050 window, and then choose the size you need from a drop-down menu, Sterlingbuild list every size as a different product. So you have to scroll through reams of product listings to find the window type in the right size before you get to any information about the product itself. Not to mention, their site is riddled with duplicate content because 12 different sizes of product are not different products, they are the same product, just a different size, so they have the identical product description for numerous separate pages basically selling the same product. How on earth has Google decided this is the best website in the marketplace when it comes to roof windows?
Technical SEO | | LukeyB301 -
Canoical tags how do i use them
Hi i have this coming up on the report for my url www.in2town.co.uk but i am not sure how to use the canonical tag. I am using joomla and would be grateful if anyone could please give me advice on how to use this. Canonical URL Tag Usage Moderate fix <dl> <dt>Number of Canonical tags</dt> <dd>0</dd> <dt>Explanation</dt> <dd>Although the canonical URL tag is generally thought of as a way to solve duplicate content problems, it can be extremely wise to use it on every (unique) page of a site to help prevent any query strings, session IDs, scraped versions, licensing deals or future developments to potentially create a secondary version and pull link juice or other metrics away from the original. We believe the canonical URL tag is a best practice to help prevent future problems, even if nothing is specifically duplicate/problematic today.</dd> <dt>Recommendation</dt> <dd>Add a canonical URL tag referencing this URL to the header of the page.</dd> <dd>many thanks for your help
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-184886
</dd> </dl>0 -
I am Posting an article on my site and another site has asked to use the same article - Is this a duplicate content issue with google if i am the creator of the content and will it penalize our sites - or one more than the other??
I operate an ecommerce site for outdoor gear and was invited to guest post on a popular blog (not my site) for a trip i had been on. I wrote the aritcle for them and i also will post this same article on my website. Is this a dup content problem with google? and or the other site? Any Help. Also if i wanted to post this same article to 1 or 2 other blogs as long as they link back to me as the author of the article
Technical SEO | | isle_surf0