The COVID-19 pandemic changed the business sector in various ways. E-Commerce has taken an upward trend in the absence of Brick and Mortar Stores since the onset of the pandemic way back in 2020. Businesses that had not yet invested in online platforms suffered significant sales losses, while those with some online systems reaped enormous benefits.
The proliferation of online markets has forced companies to turn to E-Commerce platforms such as Shopify to reach a bigger audience. This is one of the biggest online platforms popular with both small and big businesses spread out globally. With this in mind, this post is designed to give you the basics of Shopify Cloudflare Integration.
This article will guide you through the process of setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration using 5 simple steps. It will provide you with a brief overview of Shopify and Cloudflare with their key features. You will also explore the key benefits of setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration in further sections. Let’s get started.
Prerequisites
- An active Shopify account.
- An active Cloudflare account.
- Working Knowledge of E-Commerce Platforms.
Introduction to Shopify
In simple terms, Shopify is a platform that provides you with all of the tools you need to create an online business. It was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lutke and has since grown to become one of the popular online platforms for successful businesses across the globe.
Shopify is a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) based platform that requires a monthly subscription. It has gained significant popularity among small and medium enterprises due to its low initial cost and benefits. With the cloud-based tool, customers can perform various procedures such as storing data, adding products, and processing customer orders. In addition, the software is user-friendly and has a smooth learning curve. You do not need technical expertise to learn how to use the platform.
With a Shopify membership, you’ll get access to a slew of useful tools that will help you succeed in your business. For example, the software gives you access to stunning brand-specific themes. It also offers a reliable Web Hosting solution. As a result, unlike other normal websites, you don’t have to be concerned about crashes during peak season.
Key Features of Shopify
Shopify provides a wide array of features to its customers. Some of the key features of Shopify include:
- Easy Set-Up: You do not have to worry about server and development costs while launching an online store.
- No Technical Expertise: Shopify includes all software and hosting features, so you won’t need any technical knowledge to utilize it.
- Secure: As an E-Commerce business owner, you have to handle sensitive information like customer data, necessitating the usage of a secure and trustworthy platform like Shopify.
- Mobile-Friendly: Statistics show that mobile website visits are more than desktop users, meaning you need a mobile-optimized site for your business. Luckily, this is precisely what Shopify offers.
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Introduction to Cloudflare
Cloudflare is an online platform designed with the sole purpose of improving the Web Experience for both hosts and clients. Just like Shopify, the tool has an easy learning curve for users with no prior experience needed. Moreover, it does not require any additional code or hardware during set-up.
Cloudflare analyzes traffic and prevents any malicious requests from reaching the origin web server. It uses characteristics such as IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and the kind of requested resources to sieve malicious content. What’s more, with the global network of data centers native to Cloudflare, your site’s performance gets a significant boost, and you won’t have to worry about downtime.
Key Features of Cloudfare
Cloudflare has gained significant popularity in the market. Some of the key features of Cloudflare include:
- Minification: With CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and JavaScript support, you can minify your web page and eliminate unwanted characters such as white space, hence saving on file size.
- Free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Service: It offers an extra layer of security, especially if your store handles sensitive information such as transaction data.
- Image Optimization: It is a handy performance feature if your website has a considerable volume of images, and Cloudflare will help you to optimize them to smaller sizes for faster load time.
- Browser Caching: Cloudflare allows you to instruct the browser to cache static resources over more extended periods. This way, results can be loaded from the cache for faster web page loads.
Steps to Set Up Shopify Cloudflare Integration
Now that you have a basic grasp of both technologies let’s try to understand the procedure to set up Shopify Cloudflare Integration. Below are the steps you can follow to set up Shopify Cloudflare Integration:
Step 1: Log In to your Cloudflare Account
The first step in setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration is to log in to your Cloudflare account. Sign up for a Cloudflare account if you don’t have one already as shown below.
Step 2: Connect your Domain to Cloudflare
Next, connect your domain to Cloudflare by changing your nameservers and point them to the Cloudflare nameservers as shown below.
Step 3: Verify the Connection
For the next step, head over to your Shopify account and choose the Add an external domain button. Here, you will add the same domain as that of Cloudflare. Shopify also provides you with numerous DNS (Domain Name System) records. To get them, click the Verify connection button as shown below.
Step 4: Add Records under the DNS Tab
Next, head over to Cloudflare, add these records under the DNS tab and allow propagation time as shown below.
Step 5: Completing the Set-Up of Shopify Cloudflare Integration
Finally, head back to Shopify and connect the domain. Keep in mind that the confirmation may take some time. Below image depicts the successful connection of Shopify and Cloudflare.
With this, you have successfully set up your Shopify Cloudflare Integration. It’s as simple as that.
Key Benefits of Setting Up Shopify Cloudflare Integration
There are many key benefits of setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration. Also, it is no secret that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a make-or-break factor for any E-Commerce store. Without it, your audience reach will most likely be minimal, and your business will fail in the process. This is a critical aspect of any online platform, yet Shopify has continually let down clients in this area. How so? SEO best practice boils down to customization. Therefore, Developers typically want to change some Shopify SEO features to benefit their business. Unfortunately, Shopify is counter-intuitive when it comes to SEO customization.
This is where Shopify Cloudflare Integration comes in handy. The Shopify Cloudflare Integration allows you to use Cloudflare’s Edge SEO to fix some of the issues integral to Shopify. Let’s see just why you should perform this process.
1) Robots.txt File Modification
The robots.txt file tells search engine files whether or not they should crawl your website. Currently, Shopify deems this file sufficient and does not allow you to make any changes. However, there may come instances where you desperately need to alter this file. For example, you may want certain aspects of your page to go live during the holidays and others throughout the year. Moreover, you may find yourself in situations where you need to test design changes to your site before making them live.
By setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration, you can use tools such as Sloth and Spark to adjust the robot.txt file.
2) URL File Modification
This may seem like an unnecessary feature, but there are times when you may want to change the URL structure for your Shopify page. When you add a new product to Shopify, the platform automatically generates a unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator). However, you may want to partner with a digital influencer to market your products. You may want to embed the influencer name in the URL in such instances, as this will be better for search engines. While this feature is unavailable in Shopify, you can access it by integrating with Cloudflare.
3) Access to Log Files
Log files store data regarding requests made to your website server. These files are of huge importance when you want to know which websites are being crawled and those that are not. Simply put, log files are a treasure when it comes to SEO analysis. Sadly, Shopify does not allow access to these files. However, you can collect them using Cloudflare.
Learn More About:
GoDaddy Shopify Integration
Conclusion
Setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration is a relatively straightforward process that will not take up a significant chunk of your time. However, the benefits you stand to gain by performing this process are tremendous. It all boils down to SEO. Setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration will open a whole new SEO world, allowing you to reach a greater audience and boost sales. Why get left out? Perform the integration today!
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Share your experience of setting up Shopify Cloudflare Integration in the comments section below!
FAQs
1. Is Shopify using Cloudflare?
Yes, Shopify uses Cloudflare to enhance the performance and security of its platform. Cloudflare supports Shopify by providing services like faster web page loads, DDoS protection, and optimization for traffic distribution across Shopify’s global network. Shopify leverages Cloudflare’s global infrastructure to ensure a reliable and fast experience for its millions of merchants and customers
2. What servers does Shopify use?
Shopify uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power its infrastructure. AWS provides a secure, scalable cloud platform for Shopify’s servers, databases, and other core components. Shopify also utilizes a Content Delivery Network (CDN) managed by Fastly to ensure quick global loading speeds. This combination allows Shopify to handle high volumes of traffic while maintaining reliability and performance across its platform.
3. What is the Cloudflare error on Shopify domain?
A common Cloudflare error on a Shopify domain occurs when a Cloudflare proxy is active, which Shopify does not support. This proxy can cause connectivity issues with your store. To resolve this, you need to ensure your Cloudflare settings are configured correctly, such as switching to “DNS only” mode. If you continue to experience issues, Shopify recommends contacting their support team
4. How do I turn off the Cloudflare proxy on Shopify?
To turn off the Cloudflare proxy on Shopify, go to your DNS settings in the Shopify admin and locate the A record for your domain. Change the Cloudflare proxy status from “Proxied” (orange cloud icon) to “DNS only” (grey cloud icon). This ensures that Shopify can properly connect to your domain without interference from Cloudflare’s proxy services.
Orina is a skilled technical content writer with over 4 years of experience. He has a knack for solving problems and a sharp analytical mind. Focusing on data integration and analysis, he writes well-researched content that reveals important insights. His work offers practical solutions and valuable information, helping organizations succeed in the complicated world of data.
