How to Use CDN in WordPress? (Setup, Benefits & Best Practices)

Statistically, if your site loads in more than 3 seconds, there’s a chance more than 40% of the site visitors will leave. Moreover, since search engines like Google value performance, the visibility will go down and so will the organic traffic.

One of the best ways to take care of this issue is with a CDN. It distributes your site’s assets across global servers, so they can be presented to the users promptly. Faster delivery means better user experience and higher search rankings.

Through this blog, I’ll explain why it’s a key aspect of the performance optimization by professional WordPress development services. Plus, we’ll explore the different ways to use CDN in WordPress, that is, with using plugins and manually. So let’s begin.

How Does a CDN Work?

A CDN, or Content Delivery Network, is a network of distributed servers delivering a specific website content to the users based on their location.

Your WordPress site will generate requests to your browser from the web server for different files. These can be media files as well as CSS or JavaScript. Loading times increase if servers are distant from one another. With a CDN though, you can easily avoid such situations by caching a part of your static content.

Here’s how it works:

1. User Requests a Page: For instance, a person from Tokyo tries to open your New York-hosted site.
2. CDN Redirects the Request: Instead of picking files up directly from the origin server, the CDN serves them from the nearest edge server. For example, one located in Singapore.
3. Faster Content Delivery: The edge server delivers cached files instantly, reducing latency.
4. Dynamic Content Handling: Things are a little different for uncached or dynamic content (like checkout pages). The CDN fetches it from your origin server but may still optimize delivery.

A content delivery network reduces server strain and boosts scalability. It is one of the foundational elements for high-performance WordPress sites.

How to Setup and Use CDN in WordPress Using a Plugin?

No matter what you want to optimize or integrate in your website, installing a WordPress plugin could be the answer. There are several CDN plugin options in the official WordPress repository as well as third-party marketplaces.

Step 1: Sign up with a CDN provider like Jetpack and KeyCDN.

Step 2: Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard and then Plugins > Add New.

Step 3: Look for the suggested CDN plugin. You can find some such as CDN Enabler (by KeyCDN) or Jetpack by Automattic.

Step 4: After selecting a suitable plugin, click ‘Install’ and then ‘Activate’. Here we’ll use the CDN Enabler.

Step 5: Go to the setting of the CDN Enabler plugin.

Step 6: In the plugin settings, put your CDN URL (it is given by your CDN provider).

Step 7: Enable options for images, CSS, JavaScript, and other static files to be served through the CDN.

Step 8: Click ‘Save Settings’. Clear your WordPress cache so the changes can take effect.

Step 9: Verify the speed improvements using GTmetrix, Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom.

Ideal For: Beginners looking for easy CDN integration without technical nuances.

You can even opt for a custom WordPress plugin tailored to your website. For that, connect with the professionals.

How to Setup and Use CDN in WordPress Manually?

While plugins make things easier, a manual CDN setup will offer greater control over the process and the overall results. For that, you need DNS or file modifications.

Step 1: Choose any of the top CDN providers, like Cloudflare, Akamai Ion, Amazon Cloudfront, Fastly, Google Cloud CDN, etc.

Step 2: Set up an account and get your CDN credentials.

Step 3: Log in to your domain name provider (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap).

Step 4: Change ‘Nameservers’ to those given by Cloudflare.

Step 5: Wait for a few hours for DNS propagation.

Step 6: If your CDN needs a Pull Zone URL, navigate Settings > General in WordPress.

Step 7: Replace the ‘WordPress Address (URL)’ and ‘Site Address (URL)’ with the URL of the CDN.

Step 8: Find access to your site files through FTP or your hosting control panel.

Step 9: Open up your wp-config.php file, and add the following code:

define(‘WP_CONTENT_URL’, ‘https://cdn.yourdomain.com/wp-content’);

Step 10: If needed by your CDN, use a caching plugin (WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache) that performs URL rewriting for your static assets.

Step 11: Test your site to see if all assets load from the CDN correctly.

Step 12: Use the developer tools offered in the browser to view the network requests.

Step 13: Monitor the loading speed of your site with Pingdom Tools or GTmetrix.

Ideal For: Developers and advanced users who need custom CDN configurations with full control.

If you need help with implementing this process along with other performance optimization tactics, consult with our dedicated WordPress development agency.

Benefits of CDN in WordPress

A variety of advantages await the WordPress website that leverages a CDN in terms of speed and performance. Here are the reasons for implementing CDN for the WordPress website:

• Improved Load Times: CDNs cache and deliver the content of your pages from the server closest to the user’s location. It substantially lowers the page load times. It is critical for user experience and improving the score of Core Web Vitals.
• Reduced Bandwidth Costs: By using CDN for content delivery, you create a smaller number of requests on your origin server. This, in itself, is a potential advantage in reducing the cost of bandwidth.
• Increased Security: CDNs protect from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, as they can absorb and mitigate the malicious traffic. They also provide added security features, including firewalls and bot filtering.
• Enhanced Reliability: CDNs keep your website online when your main server goes down. Load balancing will keep servers distributing the traffic so as to maintain uptime and reliability.
• Better Search Visibility: Fast load time translates to good search engine results as search engines like Google instinctively consider speed. This gives a chance to improve search rankings and organic traffic.
• Global Reach: CDN is very much needed where a website is seemingly global. With the CDN serving content from local servers, it helps ensure that all users around the world experience uniform and fast load times.
• Ease of Integration: Most of the CDN providers provide either a plugin or a simple standard integration within WordPress. It’s easy to set up and configure a CDN even without advanced technical knowledge.
• Scalability: CDNs can handle high traffic loads and sudden spikes. That makes CDN an ideal solution for sites with irregular traffic or growth in the immediate future.

So you see integrating a CDN, no matter how you do it, will be advantageous for your website.

Best Practices for Using CDN in WordPress

A content delivery network (CDN) can enhance the performance, security, and SEO of your WordPress website. Below are a few key practices to optimize its use.

• Enable SSL for Secure Connections: Make sure that your CDN has HTTPS/SSL functionality to avoid possible security threats and/or mixed content errors. If you are using Cloudflare, enable Full (Strict) SSL Mode for better encryption and data protection.
• Optimize Cache Settings: An appropriate configuration of expiration settings for cache balances between the freshness of content and speed of loading. Set up automatic purges of cache for content updates to avoid serving stale assets.
• Use a Plugin for Easy Integration: Use a plugin like WP Rocket or CDN Enabler to integrate CDN in WordPress. They offer features like automatic URL rewriting, cache management, and performance optimization.
• Exclude Dynamic Content from CDN: CDN serves only static files such as images, CSS, JS, etc., whereas dynamic content has to remain uncached. Some examples that have to be excluded are log in pages, shopping carts, user-specific sites.
• Monitor CDN Performance: Regularly check CDN analytic data to understand bandwidth usage, cache hit ratio, and response times. Use a combination of GTmetrix, Pingdom, and Google PageSpeed Insights to ensure extreme performance.
• Purge Cache After Website Updates: Have you made content updates, theme changes, or stylesheet alterations? Then make sure to flush the CDN cache. Many CDN providers offer automatic configurations for cache purge to reflect changes in real-time.
• Use a Custom CDN Subdomain: Setting up a custom CDN subdomain (like cdn.yoursite.com) is better from branding and SEO perspective. Browsers can recognize your CDN assets as part of your domain. It then optimizes the cross-origin request to retrieve them.
• Regularly Test & Troubleshoot CDN Issues: Make sure to check your site for broken images, faulty CSS, and slow page loads due to wrongly configured CDN settings. In that case, you may want to check your CDN headers, cache settings, and SSL configuration.

These practices help ensure your WordPress CDN setup is optimized for maximum speed, security, and reliability.

FAQs on Using CDN in WordPress

Wrapping Up

A CDN influences the speed and overall efficiency of a WordPress site. Static content distributed through many servers will ensure the fast loading of content for visitors. This reduces bandwidth consumption and lessens the load on the server simultaneously.

Plugins provide quick and easy integration to set up the CDN; alternatively, manual integration could be the go-to approach for someone wanting full CDN control.

Beyond setup, best practices like enabling SSL and purging cache after updates, and excluding dynamic content ensure smooth operation. If you are looking to build a WordPress site that is well-designed and performs optimally, connect with us today!