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Duplicate content issues using CDN. How to fix?

by Ani86
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi,

I am thinking of using CDN to speed up my site and make it more secure. I am thinking of getting CloudFlare free account for now, just to try it out.

Does anyone know if CloudFlare any good? The bad thing about it is that they do not have a support phone number. They do, but its for enterprise users only.

There are things I want to be sure of before using it. Since I could not find any info from their FAQs and Help pages I thought I might ask you guys.

1. Will using CloundFlare's CDN create duplicate content issues for me? If it does... What is the best way to solve the issue and properly use the CDN.

I know it creates cdn.example.com but how do I use Rel Conical for images, CSS, Javascript or pdf files? For an html page I use the meta tag

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/dresses/greendress.html">

but I am not sure how to use canonical tag for images, css etc...

MaxCdn provides this code that goes to htaccess file. According to them its solving duplicate content issues.

.htaccess examples | MaxCDN Support Site

Does anyone know if this would be the same case with CloudFlare? Will it solve duplicate content issues.

Another question i have is. Should I block all the cdn.example.com urls in the robots.txt file so search engines do not index it? If yes, how do I block all the urls all at once. I know how to bock a single url but that would be a headache blocking 65 urls one by one.

Can anyone advice?
#cdn #content #duplicate #fix #issues #seo
  • Profile picture of the author damoncloudflare
    "1. Will using CloundFlare's CDN create duplicate content issues for me? If it does... What is the best way to solve the issue and properly use the CDN.

    I know it creates cdn.example.com but how do I use Rel Conical for images, CSS, Javascript or pdf files? For an html page I use the meta tag"

    We don't create a subdomain for our CDN to work. CloudFlare caches by file extension for static content files.

    No duplicate content issues at all. In addition, I would recommend reading Matt Cutts' (from Google) comments about duplicate content.
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    Damon
    CloudFlare Community Evangelist

    Tips for using WordPress with CloudFlare

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  • Profile picture of the author CutPasteProfits
    I was confused about CDNs earlier today, but I accidentally posted the question like 3 times and they all got deleted. What I find confusing is how the DNS can change to THEIR server, and then have all the files load from your own host.

    Anyway, I did figure it out and changed my nameservers to the free Cloudflare account, but it seemed to slow my site down even more. Some pages were hanging, and I couldn't search for plugins in my wordpress dashboard -- it just seemed like another headache to deal with so I just went back to my host.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      I think it is vastly overblown. I have yet to see where it actually makes
      a difference, and when it does, it's the opposite. It slows it down.

      Perhaps it has its place, but not for joe shmo's site.

      If you really want it to do its job, you can't use the free version.

      But "its job," is vastly overhyped.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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    • Profile picture of the author damoncloudflare
      "Anyway, I did figure it out and changed my nameservers to the free Cloudflare account, but it seemed to slow my site down even more. Some pages were hanging, and I couldn't search for plugins in my wordpress dashboard -- it just seemed like another headache to deal with so I just went back to my host.[/QUOTE]

      This issue sounds like an optional performance feature in the back end breaking admin functions (we generally recommend setting a PageRule to exclude the back end from our caching and performance features).

      "but it seemed to slow my site down even more."
      You should open a support ticket with details when you see something. It is very rare for us to slow a site down & we can take a look to see what's happening.
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      Damon
      CloudFlare Community Evangelist

      Tips for using WordPress with CloudFlare

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  • Profile picture of the author CutPasteProfits
    I tend to agree with you Paul, only cause they seem to break things when I use them For example, I realized that I'd have issues with certain security and caching plugins (caching plugins also break on me very easily), and i just don't have the time or expertise to keep on dealing with stupid problems they cause. Unless it's a high traffic site, I don't see the point of going overboard with the optimization.
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