How To Set Up MaxCDN On WordPress Using The Fastest Cache Plugin

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Every time we talk about speeding up a WordPress blog, one of the most recommended tips is to set up a CDN (Content Delivery Network). Setting up a CDN for the first time sounds like rocket-science, but really, you can easily set up MaxCDN within a few minutes.

Here I’m sharing a quick guide on how you can set up MaxCDN with the WP Fastest Cache plugin.

MaxCDN is one of the most recognized and most popular CDN services. They have been in the market for a long time, and most of the popular blogs I know are using MaxCDN.

If you don’t know about CDN and its benefits, you should read the following post:

Setting up a Content Delivery Network (MaxCDN in this case) on your blog requires you to do a few things:

  • Set up a “Pull Zone” from MaxCDN.
  • Add a CNAME record to your domain.
  • Set up a CDN linker plugin.

By doing this, your site will be way faster than it was before, as all the files will now be served from the server nearest to your visitors.

Also, your server load will go down by a great extent. Since most WordPress sites are hosted on shared hosting like HostGator, Bluehost, DreamHost, etc., it’s always a good idea to set up a CDN. This will speed up your site’s loading time.

If you are not aware, site speed is one of the ranking metrics which we can’t afford to ignore.

Here is a nice intro video which explains what using MaxCDN can do for your site:

Setting Up A MaxCDN Pull Zone:

Log in to your MaxCDN dashboard and click on “Zones” at the top.

Now go to Pull Zone > Create Pull Zone.

Create Pull Zone MaxCDN
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Here we need to add a few values:

  • Name: Use your domain name.
  • Origin Server URL: Enter your domain name with “http(s)://”.
    • EX: http://shoutmetech.com
  • Custom CDN name: Use cdn.domain.com (replace “domain.com” with your domain). You can also use something else instead of “cdn” like files.domain.com.
  • Label: Give a label to your CDN Zone. This will be useful when you are configuring CDN for multiple sites. Keep it unique to your domain name.
  • Compression: Put a check mark here.

So by the end, your setup should look like this:

MaxCDN Pull zone configuration
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Click on “+Create”.

It will take about 3 minutes to configure the new Pull Zone.

Afterward, the page will refresh automatically to give you a CNAME record which you need to add into your domain manager. You can always get this detail later by clicking on Manage Zones > Pull Zones.

So my final details are:

CDN URL MaxCDN
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Additionally, you should click on the “SEO” tab & “Enable” the “Canonical Header” option. 

enable Canonical Header MAXCDN SEO
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Configure CNAME Settings to Serve CDN Files from Sub-domain:

Now, all you need to do is login to your domain manager, and under your domain DNS management, click on “CNAME” and add a record for cdn.domain.com (or whatever you called it) to point it to the CDN URL. This may sound technical, but it’s quite easy to do, and it will not take more than 5 minutes to finish.

Click on Zone > Pull Zones > Manage in front of the Pull Zone you just created. Add “cdn” or “files” or anything you would like to use for the custom domain.

custom domain name CDN
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In my case I’m using files.shoutmetech.com.

Now the final step is to create a CNAME record:

CNAME cloudflare MAXCDN
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GoDaddy users can refer to this guide.

Click on “Add Record” and now you have successfully added the CNAME record.

If you find it hard to do for your domain registrar, ping your domain’s technical support and ask them to add the CNAME record as provided by MaxCDN.

Since I’m using CloudFlare, my CNAME propagation happened in real-time. In many cases, CNAME updates may take up to 48-72 hours, so you need to wait until your CNAME is propagated. You can check the status of your CNAME record by adding your CNAME here. EX: files.shoutmetech.com

CName checker
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Once the CNAME changes are reflected, we can go ahead and enable CDN in the WordPress Fastest Cache plugin.

Setting up WP Fastest Cache Plugin to use MaxCDN:

We are done setting up a Pull Zone on the MaxCDN dashboard, and we have also updated the CNAME record to use MaxCDN.

Now, the only thing left is to set up the plugin to use the CDN. If you haven’t yet, go ahead and download the WP Fastest Cache plugin.

  • Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
  • Click WP Fastest Cache Options.
  • Click on the CDN” tab.
Fastest Cache plugin CDN
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Click on “Next” & on the next page, select the type of files which should be served by the CDN:

File type for CDN
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Click on “Next” & finish the set up part on the WordPress dashboard.

Click on “Save Changes” and clear your cache. Now, check your site’s load time and source code to see where images are getting served from.

  • Earlier your images’ location would be: http://domain.com/wp-content/***
  • After CDN implementation: http://cdn.domain.com/***

Here are some FAQs:

Q) What will happen to previously uploaded files? Will all previously uploaded files will be uploaded on the MaxCDN server automatically, or do I need to do something?

A) You set up a Pull Zone, which means MaxCDN will automatically pull all of your content from your server. So there is no uploading to be done.

Q) What will happen if I decide to remove the CDN after a while?

A) If you disable the CDN, there will be no issues. As MaxCDN (when using a Pull Zone) pulls all the data from your server in the background, MaxCDN will be up to date. Although, if you ever edit an already existing file, let’s say replacing an image, the cache will need to be cleared on the CDN in order for the file to update on the CDN. So if you disable the CDN in the future, your site will be working like the way it was before, but without the benefits of a CDN.

So in a nutshell, using a CDN on your blog will give you an extra advantage of faster loading.

Translation: Your readers will be more happy.

How many of you are using a Content Delivery Network on your WordPress blog? If you are trying to set one up and are stuck somewhere in between, do let me know and I’ll be happy to help you along.

If you’ve found this tutorial useful and informative, don’t forget to share it!

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Authored By
A Blogger, Author and a speaker! Harsh Agrawal is recognized as a leader in digital marketing and FinTech space. Fountainhead of ShoutMeLoud, and a Speaker at ASW, Hero Mindmine, Inorbit, IBM, India blockchain summit. Also, an award-winning blogger.

19 thoughts on “How To Set Up MaxCDN On WordPress Using The Fastest Cache Plugin”

  1. Palashtd

    Currently, I’m using CloudFlare CDN (free plan) on my blog. But MaxCDN is totally premium not free plan for newbies.
    But It’s a great content delivery network. Thanks for sharing this tutorial.

  2. Tess R

    Nice article. To the point. After I had W3 Total Cache give me the white screen on a WP site, I had to remove that and tried a couple of other options but Fastest Cache got the site (lots of images) down to 1.64 secs (from 4.87) so I’m happy with that.

    BTW, I think MaxCDN is well worth it. Not only that, they have amazing support (I don’t work for them but use their CDN on a few sites).

  3. Del Choc

    Nice article man! I use W3 Total plugin and i can’t figure out how to activate the Maxcdn ! can you help please?

  4. Mayank Tewari

    Thanks Harsh, No matter how much I read and view youtube videos of other writer atlast only you article come to rescue as always.

    1. Harsh Agrawal

      Hey Mayank,

      Thanks for your kind words.

  5. Krishnandu Sarkar

    Thanks a lot for the tutorial. I have successfully setup MaxCDN on my blog. Can I increase Default Cache Time to 12 month in MaxCDN? As the images, CSS, JS that I have, will never change. Yes I may add more images as I add more posts. But existing ones will be same as usual forever.

  6. Patel Shoeb

    How to Setup CloudFare With Wp Super Cache Plugin?

  7. Yasas

    If we added CNAME, it will not cause any duplicate content issue?

  8. Greg@Finland Guide

    I have visited 4 different sites and all have a copy of this post
    Though good it is lacking a few details,like letting your new CNAME to propagate
    MaxCDN also offer SSL certs and security certificates. A must if you are a seller

  9. Ranbir

    Hi,
    I just wanted to ask you whether, setting up cdn changes the path of the image files and what do you think whether it would be good for the seo or not?? as search engines will suddenly find the change in the path in so many images, if your site is a big one with lots of images. I am confused. please answer. Thanks.

  10. Bharadwaj Giridhar

    Is it worth it using MaxCDN ?
    BTW, did u change your permalink structure ? 🙂

  11. Sameer Gandhi

    Thanks for the tutorial. Just setup CDN on my blog. Now the site loads cool and bit fast too

  12. Kunal

    Really good guide. It helped me a lot because I too have the similar domain cpanel. The only problem I faced was that my CNAME was not activated immediately. So had to contact MaxCDN and they asked to replace off-site url to temporary url (which I will be changing back to cname later 🙂 ). Everything working fine now. Thanks!

  13. Anurag

    Does Max Cdn will work throughout the world??

  14. Amrik Virdi

    That’s a great tutorial Harsh. I was looking out yesterday. I just brought and found my speed is great.
    Thanks for the tutorial.

  15. Paritosh

    Does maxcdn help for traffic generating from asia eespecially India?

  16. Fahad

    Do you think that MAXCDN is better than the Cloudflare?

  17. Hirak

    Interesting offer by MaxCDN of 1TB, it should suffice any site with avg traffic. However, I feel with proper theme the site loading can be quick, also with little bit of good practices such as loading thumbnails in the article and themes with no background.

  18. Kashif Minhaj

    Thanks Harsh!
    Which is better? W3 Total Cache or WP super cache????
    I am going install any one of them now!

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