Fake Site Errors

Have you, or your visitors, encountered a warning like this when trying to view images on your site?

When we first launched ExactDN/Easy IO, we wanted to make the URLs look similar to your site's domain, so that folks wouldn't freak out about some random domain name. Back in 2020, we started to see an increase in reports that Google Chrome was warning folks that those domains "look fake" because they are similar to your domain. Well yeah, that's kind of the point!

But, we get why they are doing this, and it's not entirely a bad thing. It just sucks eggs when a visitor tries to look at one of your lovely images and gets this nasty warning!

What can you do about it?

All new Easy IO domains will use random domain names, like eijsksik4stq.exactdn.com. We've come a long way since the early days, and anyone on a Growth/Infinite/Developer plan can use a custom domain/CNAME to use a "nicer" domain like cdn.my-awesome-site.com. Using a randomized domain name will prevent Google from flagging your Easy IO image URLs for looking fake.

For any sites created before September 11th, 2020, there are two options:

  1. If you are on a Growth/Infinite/Developer plan, you can setup a custom CNAME to make sure your visitors never see those warnings.
  2. For anyone on any plan, you can trade in your existing domain name for a new randomized domain name.

All affected Easy IO zones will have a refresh icon next to the CDN domain. We highly recommend upgrading to the latest version of the Easy Image Optimizer or EWWW Image Optimizer plugin to make this as smooth as possible. But either way, it isn't too complicated!

  1. Click the refresh/randomize icon to begin the process.
  2. Read what it tells you :) Which is to disable Easy IO temporarily, then click OK.
  3. When it is complete, you will see the new randomized domain, like you see above for dev.shanebishop.net.
  4. Re-enable Easy IO, and visit the plugin settings page.
  5. Done!

If you have EWWW IO 5.7.1 or higher, you'll see the new domain name listed by the Easy IO option on the settings. You can also right click an image in one of your pages to make sure it's using the new domain.

Of course, make sure to clear any page caching system you might have, so that the Easy IO URLs are updated. If you have any questions at all, just let us know, and we'll be glad to assist!

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