Block Unwanted Bots by User-Agent in WordPress with Htaccess Plugin

Some bots are helpful, like Googlebot indexing your pages, but others can overload your server, steal your content, or harm SEO.
Now, the Htaccess by BestWebSoft plugin makes it easy to block unwanted bots directly from your WordPress admin panel — no manual .htaccess editing needed.

How the Feature Works

In the plugin settings, you’ll find a new User-Agent Blocking field.
Here you can enter the names of bots you want to block — one per line.
The plugin will automatically add the correct rules to your .htaccess file.

Example:

BrowserMatchNoCase "AhrefsBot" bad_bot

Order Allow,Deny

Allow from all

Deny from env=bad_bot

This tells your server to block any request from a bot whose User-Agent contains “AhrefsBot”.

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Adding Bots to Block

1. Go to Htaccess → Settings in your WordPress dashboard.
   
2. Find the Block by User-Agent section.
   

Enter the bot names. Example:

AhrefsBot

SemrushBot

MJ12bot

3. Save changes — the plugin updates your .htaccess file automatically.
   

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Example of Settings Page

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Why Use User-Agent Blocking

• Protect server resources — block bots that send too many requests.
  
• Prevent content scraping — stop automated tools from copying your site.
  
• Improve security — keep suspicious crawlers away.
  

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Conclusion

With the new User-Agent Blocking feature in the Htaccess by BestWebSoft plugin, you can easily stop unwanted bots from crawling your site without touching any code. Simply enter the bot names in the settings, and the plugin will handle the rest.

FAQ: Blocking Bots by User-Agent in WordPress