# RankShield Edge Protection > RankShield edge protection filters bots and floods at Cloudflare's network before they reach your server. A $39/mo add-on to the plugin, set up for you. [Home](https://seoagencynaples.com/) / RankShield edge protection RankShield · Edge # A bot flood does not have to break in to cost you money Every fake request still consumes your hosting: CPU, memory, database connections. An attack does not need to succeed to slow your site down for the customers you actually want. [See edge protection on RankShield →](https://rankshield.co/edge/) $39/mo · cancel anytime · set up for you The route ## What happens to a request The attack ### A flood leaves, aimed at you It does not need to break in to hurt you. Every fake request still consumes CPU, memory and a database connection, and every one of them makes the site slower for the person you actually want. At volume, an attack that fails still costs you the sale. The edge ### It is met at the network A filtering layer across Cloudflare's global network sits in front of your hosting. The RankShield Network's confirmed-attacker feed is applied there, so a threat recognised anywhere on the network is dropped here, thousands of miles before it reaches you. The sort ### Floods absorbed, visitors through Volumetric traffic is soaked up across the network rather than landing on one server that was never built to take it. Real requests keep moving and arrive clean. Your traffic gets faster precisely because the traffic you did not want never made the trip. The origin ### The plugin is still working Edge protection does not replace what you have. Your plugin keeps scoring and challenging at the origin the entire time: ranking attacks, ad click fraud, spoofed AI agents. Two layers, one network, nothing switched off to get the second one. What it does ## The specifics, without the adjectives - Puts a filtering layer across Cloudflare's global network, in front of your hosting, so traffic is sorted thousands of miles before it reaches your origin. - Applies the RankShield Network's confirmed-attacker feed at the edge, so a threat recognised anywhere on the network is dropped here too. - Absorbs volumetric floods across the network instead of landing them on one server that was never built to take them. - Does not replace your plugin. Origin protection keeps scoring and challenging the whole time: two layers, nothing switched off to get the second one. - Edge decisions are recorded and checkable like every other RankShield decision, and feed back into the network so every protected site benefits. Price and terms are published on rankshield.co and were accurate on 2026-07-16. Check the product page for current pricing. [rankshield.co/edge →](https://rankshield.co/edge/) Who it is for A site already running the plugin that is taking enough automated traffic to feel it. It is $39 a month, cancel anytime, and we set it up for you. And who it is **not** for: if your site is not taking enough automated traffic to feel it, the plugin at the origin is already doing the job. We would rather tell you to keep the $39/mo than sell you a layer you do not need. We are associated with RankShield, and this site runs on its verifiable rail: every page here is hash-checked and sealed into a transparency log. We deploy these products for clients because the things they protect, rankings and ad spend, are the things we are hired to grow. [See how that works on this site →](https://seoagencynaples.com/transparency/) Edge protection ## Questions before you add a layer What it stops, whether you still need the plugin, what it costs, and when it is not worth it. **Answered directly.** JAMIE KLONCZ · SEO AGENCY NAPLES ************** ONLINE Pick a question on the left, or search above. You will get the direct answer, the way an answer engine would give it. ← PREV NEXT → [FREE AUDIT →](https://seoagencynaples.com/free-seo-audit/) - **What is edge protection, in plain terms?** It is a filter that sits between the internet and your web hosting. Normally every request, real or fake, travels all the way to your server before anything decides what to do with it. That means an attacker consumes your resources just by knocking. Edge protection moves the decision out to Cloudflare's global network, so bad traffic is dropped near where it originated rather than at your door. Your server never spends anything on it. The practical effect is that a flood which would have slowed your site becomes something you do not notice. - **Do I still need the plugin if I have this?** Yes, and this is worth being clear about because it would be easy to imply otherwise. Edge protection is a second layer, not a replacement. It handles volume and known attackers at the network. The plugin handles the things that require knowing your site: which URL was hit, whether a click was real, whether an AI agent is who it claims to be. Nothing gets switched off to add the edge. If someone sells you an edge layer as a replacement for origin protection, they are describing something else. - **What does it cost?** It is 39 dollars a month, cancel anytime, added on top of your existing plan, and we set it up for you. That price is published on the RankShield product page and was accurate when this page was written on the sixteenth of July 2026. Check the product page for current terms rather than trusting a number on a third-party page, including this one. Origin protection keeps running the whole time, so the add-on is genuinely additive rather than an upgrade path that takes something away first. - **How do I know it is doing anything?** Edge decisions are RankShield decisions: recorded, checkable, and fed back into the network so every protected site benefits from what yours just survived. That last part is the useful bit. An attacker burned on one site becomes known to all of them, which is a defence that gets better as more sites run it and is not something a standalone tool can offer. The point of a receipt rather than a number is that you can check the claim instead of taking a dashboard at its word. - **Is this worth it for a small local business?** Often not, and we would rather tell you that than sell it. If your site is not taking enough automated traffic to feel it, the plugin at the origin is doing the job and the edge layer is solving a problem you do not have. It earns its keep when the volume is real: a site under sustained bot load, a store running significant paid traffic, or a business that has already been hit once. The honest test is whether your hosting is straining or your logs are full of traffic no human generated. If neither is true, keep your 39 dollars.