How Cloudflare Enhances Website Security and Performance
Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN) and internet security service that functions as a reverse proxy between visitors and web servers. The platform routes traffic through its global network of more than 330 data centres across 125 countries before it reaches the origin server. This setup allows Cloudflare to filter malicious traffic, cache website content closer to users, and optimise how data travels across the web.
Understanding Cloudflare helps businesses recognise how it enhances both security and performance without necessitating significant changes to hosting or website infrastructure.
Visit The Social Bay for help setting up Cloudflare and improving your website’s SEO and security.
Understanding what Cloudflare is
When a visitor accesses a site protected by Cloudflare, their request passes through Cloudflare’s network instead of going directly to the hosting server. This is the core of what a Cloudflare setup is: it acts as an intermediary that hides the real IP address of the origin server.
Cloudflare serves as the authoritative DNS provider, converting domain names into IP addresses and responding with anycast IPs instead of the origin server’s location. This structure allows Cloudflare to inspect all incoming requests, block suspicious activity, serve cached versions of content, and forward safe traffic to the actual server.
The network operates across 330 cities and connects with over 13,000 networks, including major ISPs and cloud providers. Its infrastructure sits within 50 milliseconds of 95% of all internet users, handling over 300 Tbps of network capacity through hardware designed in-house.
Cloudflare DDoS protection at scale
Cloudflare DDoS protection operates automatically across layers 3, 4, and 7 of the network stack. In the first half of 2025 alone, Cloudflare mitigated 27.8 million DDoS attacks, surpassing the 21.3 million attacks handled in all of 2024. The platform blocked a record 7.3 Tbps attack in Q2 2025 that lasted 45 seconds, and by September 2025, it had mitigated an even larger 22.2 Tbps assault involving 10.6 billion packets per second.
In Q2 2025, over 6,500 hyper-volumetric attacks exceeded thresholds of 1 Tbps, 1 billion packets per second, or 1 million requests per second. All mitigation processes run without manual input, analysing network patterns and blocking threats before they impact customer sites.
The effectiveness of Cloudflare DDoS protection comes from its distributed design. Attack traffic spreads across hundreds of data centres instead of hitting a single point. This allows Cloudflare to absorb attacks more than 30 times larger than the biggest recorded before its deployment.
Web application firewall and advanced security tools
Cloudflare’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) protects against OWASP Top 10 threats, including SQL injection and cross-site scripting. The WAF processes up to 106 million HTTP requests per second, updating its managed rule sets in real time to block zero-day exploits.
Bot management utilises machine learning and fingerprinting to distinguish between legitimate users and bots. Cloudflare offers three protection levels: Bot Fight Mode, Super Bot Fight Mode, and Enterprise Bot Management. These prevent credential stuffing, scraping, and other automated abuse.
Rate limiting lets administrators define request limits for login pages or APIs. This helps block brute-force attempts and application-layer DDoS attacks while ensuring real users can still access services.
Free SSL/TLS encryption
Every Cloudflare account includes Universal SSL at no cost. When launched in 2014, this feature doubled the size of the encrypted web within a single day by enabling over 2 million sites to run HTTPS. Certificates are installed and renewed automatically.
Cloudflare provides three encryption modes: Flexible SSL (encrypts between the visitor and Cloudflare), Full SSL (encrypts both segments), and Full Strict (requires a trusted certificate at the origin). The Automatic SSL/TLS feature selects the safest option based on the server’s configuration, ensuring consistent encryption across all traffic.
Content delivery and caching optimisation
Cloudflare’s CDN caches static assets like images, CSS, and JavaScript at its edge servers. If a visitor in London requests data stored on a server in the US, Cloudflare delivers a cached version from a nearby UK data centre, lowering latency and bandwidth use.
Tiered cache topology ensures efficiency by checking upper-tier caches before contacting the origin server. Compression through GZip and minification reduces file sizes by 50–70%, while Polish image optimisation applies lossy or lossless compression automatically. Tests show that WordPress sites using Cloudflare’s Automatic Platform Optimisation record a 72% faster Time to First Byte and 23% improvement in First Contentful Paint.
Cache rules enable the fine-tuning of what is stored, how long it remains valid, and when it should be refreshed. Administrators can set parameters based on file type or URL patterns to reduce unnecessary revalidation.
Argo Smart Routing for faster connections
Argo Smart Routing analyses live traffic conditions to detect the fastest routes between users and origin servers. The system utilises Cloudflare’s private backbone spanning six continents to reduce latency by 30–35% compared to public networks.
This overlay network bypasses congested sections of the internet by rerouting through Cloudflare’s optimised connections. The company has expanded its private backbone capacity by more than 500% since 2021, strengthening resilience and speed for data delivery.
Cloudflare Workers for edge computing
Cloudflare Workers enable serverless code execution at the edge, supporting JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python. Applications run on more than 300 global locations with minimal latency. Because code is pre-deployed, cold starts are nearly eliminated.
Developers use Workers for authentication, API gateways, and personalisation. By processing requests before they reach origin servers, Workers reduce load and improve response times. Paid plans start at around £4 per month after the free tier limits are reached.
Load balancing and failover
Load Balancing within Cloudflare distributes traffic across multiple servers using active-active or active-passive models. Continuous health checks detect server issues, redirecting users to healthy servers within seconds if failures occur.
Geographic and weighted traffic steering keep workloads balanced and improve uptime during spikes or outages.
Page rules for detailed control
Page Rules let administrators assign settings to specific URL patterns. These can force HTTPS, control caching behaviour, or disable features for trusted IPs. WordPress administrators often exclude “wp-admin” from caching while maximising caching on static content.
Rules can also forward URLs, control security levels, or switch off Cloudflare features for testing or maintenance.
SEO and ranking benefits
Cloudflare directly supports affordable SEO through improved site speed, reliability, and HTTPS compliance. Google treats page speed as a ranking factor, and faster load times lower bounce rates. Cloudflare’s CDN, caching, and compression enhance Core Web Vitals, including Largest Contentful Paint and First Input Delay.
HTTPS encryption, provided free via Cloudflare’s SSL, meets Google’s secure-connection requirements. The automated renewal prevents downtime that could block crawlers.
Features like Always Online and load balancing maintain uptime during server issues, which is crucial for consistent indexing. Image compression and mobile optimisation also help sites perform better under Google’s mobile-first indexing approach.
Hosting management and pricing
Cloudflare offers a range of plans to fit different site sizes.
- Free plan: Basic DDoS protection, SSL, and CDN functions.
- Pro plan (£16 per month): Adds WAF, image optimisation, and mobile performance features.
- Business plan (£160 per month): Includes custom SSL, advanced rules, and priority support.
- Enterprise plan: Customised pricing with dedicated management and premium features.
Each plan applies per domain and includes unlimited subdomains. Upgrades receive prorated credits for unused time, and billing recurs monthly.
For UK businesses using hosting in Manchester, pairing Cloudflare with local data centres—such as those operated by iomart, Equinix, and Itility—offers both local data control and global performance gains.
Analytics and monitoring
The Cloudflare dashboard gives real-time insight into traffic, security events, and cache efficiency. Administrators can monitor bandwidth use, requests per second, and threat activity. The GraphQL Analytics API integrates these metrics into external dashboards.
Cache Analytics displays which requests were served from the cache or revalidated, enabling fine-tuning of cache policies and improved resource utilisation.
Network growth and reliability
Cloudflare expanded into 12 new cities during the first half of 2023, improving local coverage in 122 countries. The company peers with more than 12,500 networks worldwide. Many internet providers host Cloudflare cache nodes directly, keeping traffic local and lowering costs.
The global network now handles roughly 20% of all web traffic. This large data set enables Cloudflare to quickly recognise new attack methods and strengthen defences for all connected sites.
Final thoughts
Cloudflare improves website performance, security, and reliability through a combination of caching, encryption, and automated protection. For organisations managing online services or e-commerce platforms, understanding what Cloudflare is and how it mitigates attacks through Cloudflare DDoS protection can make the difference between a fast, secure website and one vulnerable to downtime.
For professional help setting up or optimising Cloudflare on your website, contact The Social Bay at hello@thesocialbay.co.uk or call 07441 918230. You can also visit thesocialbay.co.uk for tailored support in improving your site’s performance and security.
