Cloudflare Integration

The Cloudflare integration enables faster URL indexing by leveraging Cloudflare’s infrastructure and relationships with search engines.

​

Features

​

URL Index Submission

Submit URLs for indexing through Cloudflare:

• Notify search engines about new or updated content
• Faster indexing compared to waiting for natural crawling
• Batch submission support for multiple URLs

​

IndexNow Protocol

Cloudflare supports the IndexNow protocol, which provides instant notification to participating search engines:

• Bing - Primary IndexNow supporter
• Yandex - Supports IndexNow
• Other engines - Growing adoption

​

Setup Requirements

• A Cloudflare account
• Your domain configured with Cloudflare
• API token with appropriate permissions

​

Installation

​

Step 1: Create Cloudflare API Token

1. Log in to your Cloudflare Dashboard
2. Go to My Profile > API Tokens
3. Click Create Token
4. Use the Edit zone template or create a custom token with:
   • Zone - Read permissions
   • Cache Purge - Purge permissions (for cache invalidation)
5. Select the zones (domains) this token can access
6. Click Continue to summary then Create Token
7. Copy the token (you won’t see it again)

​

Step 2: Connect in ChatFeatured

1. Go to Integrations > Cloudflare in ChatFeatured
2. Enter your Cloudflare API token
3. Select the zone (domain) you want to connect
4. Click Test Connection
5. Save the configuration

​

Using the Integration

​

Submitting URLs

Submit URLs for indexing:

1. Go to Index Submissions in ChatFeatured
2. Enter the URL(s) you want indexed
3. Select Submit via Cloudflare
4. Click Submit

​

Automatic Submission

When enabled, new content published through ChatFeatured integrations is automatically submitted:

1. Enable Auto-submit new content in Cloudflare settings
2. When you publish content (e.g., via WordPress), URLs are submitted automatically
3. Track submission status in Index Submissions

​

Bulk Submission

Submit multiple URLs at once:

1. Click Bulk Submit in Index Submissions
2. Enter URLs (one per line) or upload a list
3. Submit through Cloudflare
4. Monitor status for each URL

​

How IndexNow Works

IndexNow is a protocol that allows websites to notify search engines immediately when content changes:

1. You publish content on your website
2. ChatFeatured notifies Cloudflare about the new/updated URL
3. Cloudflare sends to IndexNow on your behalf
4. Search engines receive notification and prioritize crawling

​

Benefits

• Faster indexing: Minutes instead of days
• Efficient crawling: Search engines know exactly what changed
• Reduced server load: Fewer unnecessary crawls

​

Limitations

• Works best with participating search engines (Bing, Yandex)
• Google uses its own indexing system (separate submission may be needed)
• Doesn’t guarantee indexing—just faster discovery

​

Monitoring Submissions

​

Submission Status

Track the status of your submissions:

​

Submission History

View your submission history:

1. Go to Index Submissions
2. Filter by Cloudflare submissions
3. See timestamps, URLs, and statuses

​

Best Practices

​

When to Submit

Submit URLs when:

• You publish new content
• You make significant updates to existing pages
• You fix previously broken or redirected pages

​

When NOT to Submit

Avoid submitting:

• The same URL repeatedly (can be rate-limited)
• URLs that return errors (4xx, 5xx)
• Non-canonical URLs
• Pages you don’t want indexed

​

Submission Frequency

• New content: Submit once when published
• Updated content: Submit once after significant changes
• Bulk changes: Space out submissions to avoid rate limits

​

Troubleshooting

​

Connection Issues

“Invalid API token”

1. Verify the token in Cloudflare dashboard
2. Ensure the token has the required permissions
3. Check that the token hasn’t expired
4. Generate a new token if needed

“Zone not found”

1. Verify the domain is configured in Cloudflare
2. Ensure the API token has access to that zone
3. Check for typos in the domain name

​

Submission Issues

“Submission failed”

1. Check that the URL is valid and accessible
2. Verify the URL is on a domain connected to Cloudflare
3. Review rate limits (too many submissions too fast)
4. Check Cloudflare status for any outages

“URL not getting indexed” Remember that submission doesn’t guarantee indexing:

1. Ensure the page has quality content
2. Verify no technical issues (noindex, blocked by robots.txt)
3. Check that the page is linked from other pages
4. Allow time for search engines to process

​

Cache Considerations

When you update content:

1. Submit the URL for indexing
2. Consider purging Cloudflare cache for that URL
3. Ensure search engines see the updated version

The integration can optionally purge cache when submitting URLs (configurable in settings).

​

Security

​

API Token Best Practices

• Use minimal required permissions
• Create a dedicated token for ChatFeatured
• Rotate tokens periodically
• Revoke tokens if compromised

​

Data Handling

• Only URLs are sent to Cloudflare
• No page content is transmitted
• Submission data is logged for your records