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09 — Cloudflare CDN Configuration

Why Cloudflare?

  • Free plan includes CDN, DDoS protection, basic WAF
  • Global edge network (300+ cities)
  • SSL termination at edge
  • Bot protection

Setup

Step 1: Add your domain

  1. Create a Cloudflare account
  2. Add your domain
  3. Cloudflare scans your existing DNS records

Step 2: Change nameservers

Update your domain registrar's nameservers to Cloudflare's (e.g., kareem.ns.cloudflare.com, tina.ns.cloudflare.com).

Wait for activation (usually 5-30 minutes).

Step 3: DNS records

Add these records:

Type Name Content Proxy
A @ YOUR_SERVER_IP Proxied (orange cloud)
A www YOUR_SERVER_IP Proxied

SSL/TLS Settings

Go to SSL/TLS:

  • Encryption mode: Full (Strict)
  • Always Use HTTPS: ON
  • Minimum TLS Version: 1.2
  • Automatic HTTPS Rewrites: ON

Caching Settings

Cache Rules (free plan: 3 rules)

Rule 1: Cache HTML pages

  • Match: Hostname = yourdomain.com AND NOT URI Path contains /wp-admin
  • Cache eligibility: Eligible for cache
  • Edge TTL: 2 hours
  • Browser TTL: 60 seconds

Rule 2: Long cache for static assets

  • Match: URI Path matches *.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp|css|js|woff2|svg|ico)
  • Edge TTL: 1 month
  • Browser TTL: 1 year

Purge Cache

After updating content:

  1. Cloudflare Dashboard → Caching → Configuration → Purge Everything
  2. Or purge specific URLs via API:
curl -X POST "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/ZONE_ID/purge_cache" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{"files":["https://yourdomain.com/updated-page/"]}'

Speed Settings

  • Auto Minify: JS, CSS, HTML → ON
  • Brotli: ON
  • Early Hints: ON
  • HTTP/2: ON (automatic)
  • HTTP/3 (QUIC): ON

Security

  • Security Level: Medium
  • Bot Fight Mode: ON (for regular bots)
  • Browser Integrity Check: ON
  • Hotlink Protection: ON (prevents others from embedding your images)

AI Bots: Allow, Don't Block

Critical for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Cloudflare's "AI Scrapers and Crawlers" feature blocks AI search engine bots by default. If you want your site to appear in AI-generated answers (Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, Claude Web, Bing Copilot), you must allow these bots:

  1. Cloudflare Dashboard → Security → Bots
  2. Turn OFF "AI Scrapers and Crawlers" blocking
  3. Or create custom WAF rules to selectively allow:
Bot User-Agent Source
GPTBot GPTBot OpenAI (ChatGPT Search)
ChatGPT-User ChatGPT-User OpenAI browse mode
Google-Extended Google-Extended Google AI Overviews
PerplexityBot PerplexityBot Perplexity AI
ClaudeBot ClaudeBot Anthropic (Claude Web)
anthropic-ai anthropic-ai Anthropic training
Bytespider Bytespider ByteDance AI
cohere-ai cohere-ai Cohere AI
CCBot CCBot Common Crawl

Why this matters: If AI bots can't crawl your site, your content will never appear in AI-generated answers — which is increasingly where B2B buyers start their research.

See 07-seo-optimization.md for the full GEO setup guide.

Performance Tips

  • Polish (Pro plan): Auto-optimize images at edge
  • APO ($5/month): Full-page caching for WordPress — huge speed boost if budget allows

Verify

# Check Cloudflare is active
curl -I https://yourdomain.com
# Look for: cf-cache-status: HIT, server: cloudflare

Next Step

→ 10 — Security