Chicks in Business

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Wealth Creators

  • Home
  • Features
  • Wealth Building
  • Marketing
  • Side Hustles
  • Biz Basics
  • Mindset
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

How to Block Bots From Coming to Your Website: Tools & Tips

January 7, 2023 By JL Paulling Leave a Comment

It’s highly likely that you are familiar with bots on the web at this stage, however, you may be uncertain as to what exactly they are and their purpose.

Software tools that automatically complete different tasks over the Internet are known as Internet bots, web crawlers, web robots, spider bots, or just bots. The uses for bots may vary depending on who created them and whether or not they are being used for helpful or malicious purposes. Bots are commonly used to replicate activities that would typically be fulfilled by people, like sorting websites on the web or providing an answer to people’s queries. The latter is known as customer service.

Bots that are beneficial usually carry out automatic jobs, such as website analysis or accumulating information, and typically make our lives simpler. However, malicious intent can be carried out by robots on the internet. The latest research from Imperva Incapsula indicates that a quarter of all bot traffic is likely caused by harmful bots, with no real changes detected in the last few years.

Malicious robots are employed to break into, send junk mail, observe covertly, disrupt, and damage websites of varying sizes. If you have an online presence, you have already had experience with these troublesome automated programs. There are ways of dealing with bots. Currently, bots comprise 25% of web traffic, so it’s impossible to permanently steer clear of them, but with our assistance, they will not be a constant nuisance.

We have a few methods to eradicate bots from your webpage. Before anything else, let us become better acquainted with bots and the reasons why a great many people find them disagreeable.

What Is Bot Traffic?

When someone navigates to your site, analytics will record that page view and categorize it to an individual with distinguishing features such as the particular web browser being used and the operating system in operation. That’s normal traffic flow, and the other numbers they generate are known as identifiers.

What about traffic from multiple bots? We are talking about traffic created by automated robots when we mention “bot traffic”. The implication of bots is not always negative, but it is dependent upon its purpose. Generally, a search engine or digital assistant, such as Google or Siri, relies on bots in order to function.

Most businesses enjoy having bots on their websites. But lots of malware is also utilized to insert credentials or take information and generate DDoS assaults. Sometimes annoying bots, such as unauthorized web crawlers, are a nuisance because they can interfere with analytics of web usage and cause fraudulent clicks.

Common Misconceptions About Bots

You should assume that all bots are malicious and must be taken off your website without a doubt.

It is not possible to prove that sadly, but one point is certain. Not all bots on your website are bad. An example of a bot created by Google is Googlebot which sifts through websites and adds the URLs to the search engine. These are called search engine bots. Consequently, this robot is hugely beneficial – and by manufacturing interesting material on the web – it will accelerate your ascent up the SERP rankings.

It is not accurate to think that bots can be prevented from doing damage by using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) security and Web Application Firewalls (WAF). Although both digital programs can aid in keeping your website functioning during a botnet or DDoS attack, they won’t be much help should a few robots be searching your site.

Certain robotic programs have been manufactured with bad intentions, meant to produce deceptive info and masquerade as legitimate webpages for the purpose of stealing personal information.

Norton’s research shows that there is an abundant presence of robotic profiles on widely used social media websites, such as Twitter, that are responsible for the dissemination of fraudulent information and duping innocent people. These are deemed to be “evolving risks” and can also send malicious software to unsuspecting users.

In contrast, some bots will also go through your website for optimization for search engines.

Software with the capability to automate and consolidate is advantageous for SEO professionals so that they can streamline everyday activities. SEO professionals often incorporate the utilization of Semrush and Ahrefs bots in their practices – both of these are automated marketing tools that conduct daily searches on thousands of webpages, aiding marketers in formulating their online plans.

Steps to Block Bots From Coming to Your Website

Creating a method of thwarting off bots from accessing your site is similar to attempting to set up an unobservable barrier around your page to reject intruders.

It is important to be proactive in battle against bots by taking preventive measures before they can cause any destruction to your website. One should make sure to have strategies in place before the bots can make their move.

Gaining an insight into the foe must come first, followed by dealing with any existing issues and readying oneself for upcoming assaults. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Identify the Weight of the Problem

If you are still looking at this, it is likely that you have worries pertaining to bots and wish to know additional information regarding how to keep them away from your website. Prior to beginning, it is a wise idea to reflect on what is taking place on your website.

Are you having a major issue with automated software, or are you just seeing more action?

Think about how your digital advertising efforts have been affected or could be affected. As previously indicated, there are both benevolent and malevolent bots. Some are just neutral.

For example, there could be an increase in activity on your website on a particular day or page that doesn’t seem to have a cause. It is not possible to associate a particular marketing effort with a boost in the page’s traffic. It appears likely that the increased activity may have originated from an automated program.

If the peak was momentary and there haven’t been any other signs of difficulty, you should investigate the matter, but there’s no need to take hasty action.

If your e-commerce website has been breached, or certain parts of your website have become corrupted and stopped working, you should take immediate steps to protect it and repair the damage done. In that situation, it would be wise to move straight to the later steps and take quick action.

2. Understand the Source

When you become aware that web bots are causing a disturbance to your webpage, you’ll have to carry out some research to discover the source of the issue.

3. Make a Plan

Now it’s time to decide what to do. If you have experienced an attack, it is important to take steps to fix the matter and fix any flaws in your website to keep additional issues from occurring.

If you’ve noticed automated systems at work without experiencing an attack yet, you should concentrate your strategy on identifying potential weaknesses that could be used against you in the future and strengthening them in the present.

4. Stay Up to Date

Be sure to have the most recent editions of your website and its accompanying components. No matter what customer relationship management (CRM) website provider you use, make sure you stay up to date with their new launches. For example, if you are using WordPress, it is important to confirm that your theme and plugins are up-to-date.

Staying up to date has its advantages. First, bots may use older versions to gain access. Additionally, platforms have a desire to supply their customers with safe products. The newest versions could contain enhanced safety components and bot blocking selections.

5. Add CAPTCHA Tools

It is possible to stop robots from engaging with elements of your website (e.g. registering, communicating, buying products) by making sure that only people can do these activities.

The CAPTCHA requires the person to undertake a task or other activities to demonstrate that they are human, not a robot. Unless a robot has been preprogrammed with the right action, it will not be able to complete the task and move forward.

6. Check Your APIs and Other Connections

If your website has been around for a while now, it is likely that many API links and other types of connections with other websites have been set up. If you’ve allowed an integration to have access to and exchange information with your website, then your APIs could be at risk.

Conduct an audit of every API, plugin, connection, or other integration:

  • Do you use them all? Remove the obsolete ones.
  • Are you using the latest versions? If not, update them.
  • Are you using quality products? If they don’t have security measures in place, consider replacing them.

If you have inquiries, contact the person who’s in charge of the platform and make sure that it’s protected.

7. Block Older Browser Versions

One way to prevent certain bots from accessing your website is by not permitting outdated browsers to gain entry. This isn’t 100% reliable, but it may help to secure your website. You could accomplish this by making it so that users must employ the most recent versions of web browsers to look at your site.

TechRepublic suggests that this technique should be employed, because the majority of human users will have to upgrade to a more recent web browser version.

It is best to seek the help of a web designer if you do not have the know-how to access and modify the .htaccess file of your website.

8. Patch It

If you find it difficult to stay informed about the robots arriving on your website or think the situation is more serious than you can manage, you can enlist the assistance of an expert to investigate the robots which may be going to your website.

If you see a particular robot coming to your page and causing issues, like hurtful remarks or making attempts to gain access without authorization, you can keep that IP address from getting to your website in the future.

GoDaddy and other websites provide clear instructions on how to do this. You should be aware that this is merely a temporary fix. This tactic can prevent a somewhat hazardous assault, however numerous hackers or malicious bot launchers possess methods of entering from different IP addresses, therefore the answer might be short-lived.

Blocking Bad Bots on Your Website – The Easy Way

Using platforms like Cloudflare can safeguard your website and enhance its performance. By using a big CDN (Content Delivery Network) in Cloudflare’s service, your website’s speed and security will be improved significantly for everyone around the world.

At the beginning of the blog post, we pointed out that there are both beneficial and detrimental bots.

Cloudflare, SiteLock, and Sucuri utilize beneficial bots to manage unwelcome bots robotically. You may have noticed that although it’s free, going through the process of protecting your website from bots can be exhaustive and may not even be successful. Rather than doing it yourself, SiteLock and Sucuri can handle blocking off any spam bots and provide a range of other features.

Both of these services check your website constantly to look for any intruders and take action to get rid of them if they are detected. Other fixes include:

  • Eliminating backdoors
  • Updating plugins and your website’s core components
  • Using the CAPTCHA method to block bots more effectively

You can prevent bots from accessing your website by utilizing a Web Application Firewall, observing and obstructing DDoS attacks, hindering backdoors, and evaluating behaviour. In addition to the security these services provide, SiteLock gives users access to a Global Content Delivery Network, which will accelerate your website.

It is essential to keep in mind that this answer is simple, automated, and dependable. Don’t fret over changing your documents or barring IP addresses when you have a service such as SiteLock or Sucuri, as they will do it more effectively by discovering robot activity.

Using a service such as SiteLock, Sucuri, or another security program will safeguard your web page from unfavorable robots and repair your code so that nothing malevolent will be able to enter your website.

Blocking Bots Leads to ‘Healthier’ Websites

If your website does not get over 100,000 views a day, it is likely that most of your visitors are robots instead of people.

Bots play a big part in Internet activity today. We can get data and go to various websites at any moment using our smartphones, mobile applications, and linked gadgets. Bots that have been developed further can purchase items automatically on the internet. Bots visit eCommerce shops that don’t carry much in stock and put items in their carts, obstructing retail customers from obtaining them and causing a decline in sales.

A large amount of this action can be of a nefarious nature, yet there are numerous bots that have been produced to make our lives simpler.

Utilize the beneficial services of positive bots and put into place all the safeguards you can to shield your website from any malevolent bots that might attempt to gain access to the information on your site. With this blog, you now possess all the materials that you need to attempt to thwart malicious bots, and put an end to bot traffic polluting your credibility.

Conclusion

As AI in advertising becomes more popular, it is likely that our conversations about both stopping robotic programs and including them in our marketing strategies will get more frequent. Robots can be advantageous in our digital endeavors and can contribute to our digital advertising initiative.

They may also become harmful and target your website anytime. Be on alert and make sure your web presence is maintained and up to date to guard against bots.

Do not let holes in security such as out of date plugins or open access ports stay for too long, leaving them an opening for malicious bots. Keep a close eye on things and think about bringing in a third party to help if the issue or potential dangers begin to become too large to deal with.

 

Related posts:

Ecommerce, Online Shopping, Online PaymentHow to use persuasion throughout the ecommerce customer journey Idea, Empty, Paper, Pen, Light Bulb, No, CreativityCreating a Memorable Slogan: Tips and Tricks for Crafting a Catchy Tagline bag-15841__340.jpgCPG Strategies to Initiate CPG Sales Growth Online ecommerce-2607114_1280.jpgShopping Cart Software – What You Need to Know

Filed Under: Ecommerce, Uncategorized

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Popular Posts

return-1825515_1280.jpg

The Importance of Customer Feedback in Ecommerce

Are you aware of the opinion of the most recent customer who purchased an … [Read More...]

Social Media, Internet, Facebook, Web, Service, Mobile

How to Create a Facebook Contest that Grows Engagement and Audience

Approximately 3 billion people access Facebook on a monthly basis, making … [Read More...]

Progress, Analytics, Graph, Analysis, Growth, Bar Graph

Marketing Analytics: The Simple Guide

Marketing analytics is the measurement and analysis of marketing data to … [Read More...]

About · Contact · Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 · chicksinbusiness.com