Connecting your site to Cloudflare will help boost its performance worldwide, not just where your hosting account providers set up their servers. A Cloudflare free account is an ideal way to start and will be an excellent option for a long time. I will show you how to connect your site to Cloudflare and do essential work inside the Cloudflare dashboard.
*All my sites are currently connected to Cloudflare, and I use their service for everything I write.
How to connect your site to Cloudflare CDN?
First, set up a Cloudflare account. I typically use my Google account to connect to everything.
Once you set up the account, log into your Cloudflare dashboard.
Requirements: An active website with a hosting account, a domain, and an SSL certificate for your site.
Step 1 – Verify your domain.
Log into your dashboard: https://dash.cloudflare.com/
At the top navigation Menu, Click Add Site
*Make sure to use the main domain, not a subdomain
*If you are using a different source of CDN, then Cloudflare won’t find the domain.
*Write the name only without the https:// prefix.
Now, Cloudflare will identify your site.
Select the free plan.
Step 2 – Reviewing your site’s DNS record
Review all of the sites recorded and presented by Cloudflare. If some are missing, such as subdomains or site email accounts, you must manually upload them.
Step 3 – update nameservers
It would be best if you changed the name of your website servers inside your host dashboard.
Here is an example of where to find them in my Hostinger account.
(you can find tutorials and information on your host)
The name servers are for each account; you can use them on all your sites.
*The Cloudflare nameservers will be shown here once you have finished steps 1-2
For example, oneappreview.com
We wait until Cloudflare experts the nameservers and then continue to the next step.
You will receive an email telling you that Your Cloudflare account is Set!
Let’s do some Basic Tasks inside Cloudflare.
Cloudflare First Tasks to do
Those simple steps will help improve your site
Add a DNS record
If your site will have new options such as mails or subdomains. You will need to add them manually.
Add a Record – A
Name – @
If it’s a subdomain add it (you will see the address changes)
Get your IP address from the host panel
Save it!
Add a www to the DNS
Add record and select C name
Name – www
Target – your main domain
I will redirect people who are using www to find the site
Add a free SSL using Cloudflare
One of the main reasons to use Cloudflare is free SSL
Go to the SSL tab and make sure it’s Flexible.
Complete is for the SSL to be installed on the web host. It should be used without a problem.
Full Strict – must be signed and installed on the webserver
Or – you can go to the origin, set one, and install it on the host server.
Fast Redirects!
The faster it is to redirect the old domain to a new one or change redirects on your site, the better.
Create neither a permanent nor a URL shortener using Tempeerey
Chach purge
If you are making changes to your site, press on purge everything to see all the changes
Email routing
I have flowered your emails from the site mail to your Gmail address. I have also set up multiple emails for each site.
Add the record of the emails you want to add to the DNS.
Search engine optimie
The easiest thing to do is add your site to the Bing search engine
We are all mostly on Google, and you should use – google analytics and, of course, Google Dashboard for your site! But pressing this simple button will connect you to the Bing search engine, so why not just press it?
This short step-by-step process was written with the help of the Cloudflare Developers guide
: https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/basic-tasks/