Bot Protection is a free tool in cPanel that stops bots, scrapers and bot floods before they reach your website. Suspicious visitors are asked to pass a quick, automatic check in their browser. Real people normally see a short "Verifying" page for a second or two (often not at all), while most bots cannot pass it. Search engines such as Google and Bing are allowed through automatically, so your search rankings are not affected.
It works with any PHP website, including WordPress, WooCommerce, Joomla and custom sites, and it does not send any of your visitors' information to a third party.
Turning on Bot Protection
We recommend starting in Observe mode. In Observe mode nothing is blocked; Bot Protection just records what it would have done so you can check it first.
- Log in to your cPanel. If you are not sure how, see How do I access my cPanel?
- Under the "Security" section click on "Bot Protection."
- On the "Overview" tab, select "Observe" (2) and click "Apply" (3). This sets up Bot Protection on all of your sites without blocking anyone.
- Leave it running for about a day, then open the "Activity" tab. The "What happened" column (2) shows what Bot Protection would have done to each kind of visitor, and you can change how any of them is handled right there (3). If you see something you want to let through (a payment gateway, an app or a monitoring service, for example), see Allowing Your IP, Apps and Bots.
- When you are happy with what you see, go back to the "Overview" tab, select "Protect" (2) and click "Apply" (3). The Status badge (1) changes to "Active," and Bot Protection is now protecting your sites.
That's it. For most sites, no other changes are needed.
Turning it off
On the "Overview" tab select "Off" (2) and click "Apply" (3). Your settings are kept for next time. To remove Bot Protection from your account completely, use the "Remove Bot Protection" button at the bottom of the "Overview" tab (6).
Related Bot Protection Articles
You can find these in the Bot Protection category of our knowledgebase:
- What Visitors See and Reference Codes
- Allowing Your IP, Apps and Bots
- Using a CAPTCHA with Bot Protection
- Bot Protection Settings Explained
- Automatic Protection and Opting Out
- Troubleshooting Bot Protection
Need More Help?
If you have questions about Bot Protection or something isn't working the way you expect, please open a support ticket from our Client Area and our team will be happy to help. To help us get you an answer quickly, please include:
- The website (domain) affected.
- Any Reference code shown on a blocked page.
- Roughly when it happened and what you or your visitor were trying to do.
