How to configure a CDN to speed up your news website

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) improves website speed by distributing content across multiple servers worldwide. For news websites, where real-time updates and high traffic surges are common, a CDN helps reduce load times, enhance user experience, and improve SEO rankings. Additionally, it enhances security, improves availability, and ensures a consistent browsing experience across different geographic locations.

Key benefits of a CDN include:

• Faster page loads – Content is served from the nearest server to the user.
• Reduced server load – Offloads bandwidth from the origin server, reducing hosting costs.
• Better uptime – Distributes traffic to prevent crashes during high-traffic events.
• Enhanced security – Protects against DDoS attacks, data breaches, and malicious traffic.
• Improved SEO rankings – Google prioritises fast-loading websites, and a CDN helps meet Core Web Vitals requirements.
• Optimised mobile performance – Many CDNs provide adaptive image delivery and mobile-friendly caching strategies.

Step 1: Choose the right CDN provider

There are multiple CDNs available, each with different features tailored for publishers. Some popular choices include:

• Cloudflare – Free and premium plans with DDoS protection, caching, and firewall capabilities.
• Fastly – High-performance edge computing and instant purging, used by major news organisations.
• Amazon CloudFront – Scalable and deeply integrated with AWS services, offering pay-as-you-go pricing.
• Akamai – Enterprise-level performance and security, ideal for large-scale publishers.
• BunnyCDN – Cost-effective and lightweight solution for smaller publishers.
• StackPath – Features edge computing and private networking for enhanced performance.

Choosing the right CDN depends on your website’s traffic volume, security needs, and budget. Some CDNs specialise in real-time streaming, while others focus on static content caching, so assess your site’s primary requirements before selecting a provider.

Step 2: Set up and integrate the CDN

Once you’ve chosen a CDN, follow these steps for integration:

For Cloudflare:

1. Sign up for an account at Cloudflare.
2. Add your website and let Cloudflare scan your DNS records.
3. Update your domain’s nameservers to Cloudflare’s provided nameservers.
4. Configure caching and performance settings under the Speed tab.
5. Enable security features such as bot protection, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and Always Online mode.
6. Set page rules to define how caching works for specific sections of your website.

For Fastly:

1. Create a Fastly account and set up a new service.
2. Enter your website’s origin server details to define where Fastly fetches content from.
3. Configure caching rules to optimise content delivery for frequently updated news articles.
4. Update your website’s DNS records to point to Fastly.
5. Enable shielding to reduce origin server requests and improve performance.
6. Customise edge computing features for real-time content processing.

For Amazon CloudFront:

1. Log into AWS Console and navigate to CloudFront.
2. Create a new distribution and enter your origin server’s URL.
3. Set caching behaviour to define how content is stored and updated.
4. Configure SSL/TLS settings to enable secure connections.
5. Deploy changes and update your domain settings.
6. Enable origin failover to prevent downtime if the primary server is unavailable.

Step 3: Optimise caching and performance settings

To maximise speed improvements, fine-tune your CDN settings:

• Set appropriate cache TTL (Time-To-Live) – Use longer cache durations for static assets like images, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Enable Gzip and Brotli compression – Reduces file sizes and speeds up delivery to users.
• Use adaptive image optimisation – Some CDNs dynamically serve the right image size based on device type.
• Minimise redirects – Too many redirects can slow down response times, so consolidate unnecessary URL changes.
• Enable HTTP/3 and TLS 1.3 – Enhances security and reduces connection latency.
• Leverage Edge Workers (if supported) – Use Fastly or Cloudflare Workers for dynamic processing at the network edge.
• Use cache purging strategies – Automatically refresh time-sensitive content like breaking news without affecting long-term cached assets.

Step 4: Test and monitor CDN performance

After setting up your CDN, it’s crucial to test performance and monitor ongoing results:

• Use GTmetrix or WebPageTest to measure page load speeds and waterfall breakdowns.
• Monitor Google PageSpeed Insights for real-time performance feedback and Core Web Vitals improvements.
• Check CDN analytics to review cache hit rates, bandwidth savings, and request distribution.
• Run load tests to ensure the CDN can handle sudden traffic spikes.
• Set up alerts for downtime, security threats, or unusual traffic patterns.
• Perform A/B testing on different caching configurations to refine content delivery efficiency.

Step 5: Address common CDN-related issues

While a CDN optimises website speed, improper configurations can lead to errors or performance issues. Common problems and solutions include:

• CDN not caching dynamic pages – Adjust cache rules to selectively cache high-traffic but rarely updated pages.
• Stale content being served – Set up cache purging and version control mechanisms to refresh outdated pages.
• Mixed content warnings – Ensure all assets are served over HTTPS.
• Inconsistent performance across regions – Optimise content routing to balance global server loads.
• Slow first-load speeds – Use prefetching and preload directives to improve the initial page experience.

Final thoughts

A properly configured CDN significantly boosts the speed and reliability of your news website, ensuring fast load times, reduced server strain, and a smooth user experience. By selecting the right provider, fine-tuning caching settings, and continuously monitoring performance, publishers can effectively reduce latency, improve SEO rankings, and handle high-traffic events seamlessly. As your audience grows, regularly optimising CDN configurations will help maintain a high-performance website that keeps readers engaged.