In the age of AI, your valuable website content is a prime target for data crawlers from large tech companies. Bot Traffic Shield is your first line of defense against content theft and unauthorized scraping.

This lightweight yet powerful plugin identifies and blocks a wide range of AI bots and data scrapers before they can access and harvest your content, protecting your intellectual property while reducing unnecessary server load.

🛡️ Why You Need Bot Traffic Shield

• Protect Your Content – Stop AI companies from training their models on your hard work
• Reduce Server Load – Block unwanted traffic that wastes your bandwidth and resources
• SEO-Safe by Default – Google, Bing, and Yahoo are always protected; regional search engines and social crawlers are allowed by default
• Granular Control – Enable or disable protection against each AI provider and optional regional search engines individually
• Real-Time Analytics – Beautiful interactive charts showing blocked traffic trends and bot breakdowns
• Take Control – Decide exactly who can and cannot access your valuable content

✨ Key Features (Free)

Search Engine Rules (NEW in v1.0.6)
* Split whitelist: Core search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) are always protected — no toggle, so SEO cannot be broken by accident
* Regional and other crawlers (Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, social previews, SEO tools, monitors) are individually toggleable
* Same card UI as AI Crawler Rules, with Allow All / Block All bulk actions
* Confirmation warning when disabling a search engine crawler
* Disabled regional crawlers are actively blocked (403) and receive Disallow rules in robots.txt
* Developer filters: btsld_core_search_engines and btsld_search_engine_whitelist

Interactive Analytics Dashboard (NEW in v1.0.5)
* Real-time Chart.js powered trend graphs and doughnut charts
* Switchable timeframes: 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day views
* KPI summary cards showing total blocks, today’s blocks, active rules, and top scraper
* Bot traffic breakdown showing which AI crawlers hit your site the most

Granular AI Crawler Toggles (NEW in v1.0.5)
* Individual on/off switches for each AI provider
* Covers OpenAI (GPTBot, ChatGPT-User), Anthropic (ClaudeBot), Google (Gemini/Extended), Perplexity, Meta (FacebookBot), Apple (Applebot-Extended), ByteDance (Bytespider), Common Crawl, Cohere, Amazon, Diffbot, You.com, and more
* Select All / Deselect All bulk actions for quick configuration
* Each toggle shows provider name, description, and exact User-Agent strings

SEO Safety & Search Engine Whitelist
* Core engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) are always allowed and cannot be disabled
* Regional search engines, social link previews, SEO tools, and monitors are allowed by default and can be blocked per crawler
* Explicit Allow: / rules in robots.txt for allowed crawlers; Disallow: / for blocked ones
* Developer-friendly filter hooks for custom additions
* Standard Applebot (Siri/Spotlight) is controllable separately from Applebot-Extended (AI training)

Real-Time Bot Blocking
* Actively blocks bots by their User-Agent on every page request
* Immediate protection with zero configuration needed
* Returns proper 403 Forbidden headers with no-cache directives

Comprehensive Default Blocklist
* Pre-configured list of 15+ AI crawler groups covering 20+ User-Agent signatures
* Includes GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot, Bytespider, FacebookBot, Meta-ExternalAgent, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Amazonbot, and more
* Regularly updated with new bot signatures in each plugin version

Advanced Logging & Analytics
* Track every blocked bot attempt with detailed logs
* View bot name, IP address, user agent, and timestamp
* Pagination system – Browse through logs easily (20 entries per page)
* Daily aggregated statistics powering the dashboard charts
* Running statistics showing total and daily blocked requests

CSV Export Capability
* Export your block logs to CSV format with UTF-8 BOM for Excel compatibility
* Filter exports by date range (7 days, 14 days, 30 days, or all time)
* Includes timestamp, date, bot name, IP address, and full User-Agent

robots.txt Integration
* Automatically adds Disallow rules for blocked AI bots
* Automatically adds Allow rules for whitelisted search engines
* Provides dual-layer protection for both compliant and aggressive bots

Admin Toolbar Widget
* Real-time “Blocked Today” counter in the WordPress admin bar
* Quick-access dropdown links to Dashboard, AI Rules, Activity Log, and Settings
* Lifetime blocked count display

Fully Customizable
* Add your own custom User-Agent strings to block
* Simple textarea interface – one bot per line
* Enable/disable logging with a single toggle
* Master on/off switch for all blocking features

Modern, Intuitive Interface
* Beautiful 5-tab admin dashboard: Analytics, AI Rules, Search Engine Rules, Settings, Activity Log
* Interactive Chart.js visualizations with smooth animations
* Card-based KPI metrics grid
* Modern toggle switches and responsive grid layouts
* Mobile-responsive admin panel
* No learning curve – start protecting immediately

Lightweight & Performance-Optimized
* Minimal impact on site speed
* Efficient code that runs before page load
* O(1) daily stats lookup for admin bar (no log iteration)
* No external API calls on frontend
* 60-day automatic stats pruning to keep database lean

🚀 Pro Features (Available with Bot Traffic Shield Pro)

Upgrade to Bot Traffic Shield Pro for advanced detection, traffic control and automation:

[PRO] Smart Bot Detection — Get Pro ↗
* Every visitor gets a Bot Score (0–100) with classification and confidence level
* Multi-signal analysis: headers, request rate, crawling patterns, session behaviour, missing browser headers, sequential URL crawling, 404 patterns and more
* Start in Monitor mode (log only) → switch to Enforce mode (challenge or block)
* “Why was this blocked?” reference codes so you can see exactly why a visitor was stopped

[PRO] Rate Limiting — Get Pro ↗
* Per-IP and per-crawler limits (requests per minute / hour)
* Burst limits and automatic cooldowns
* Score-aware rules (e.g. high Bot Score + high request rate → temporary block)
* Browser challenges for uncertain traffic instead of hard blocks

[PRO] IP Management — Get Pro ↗
* Temporary or permanent IP blocking with expiration
* Allow-list / block-list with notes and reason
* Per-IP activity history and quick actions

[PRO] Advanced Bot Analytics — Get Pro ↗
* AI crawler requests by outcome (allowed, blocked, rate-limited, challenged)
* Daily trends, top crawlers, top IPs and top targeted URLs
* Extended CSV export of detection and rate-limit data

[PRO] Notifications & Alerts — Get Pro ↗
* Email, Webhook, Slack, Discord and Telegram notifications
* Alerts for high bot volume, per-IP rate spikes, unknown bots and traffic anomalies
* Spike / anomaly detection against a learned baseline

👉 Ready to take control of your traffic? Get Bot Traffic Shield Pro & Pricing ↗

🎯 Who Is This Plugin For?

• Content Creators – Protect your articles, tutorials, and creative work
• Bloggers – Keep your unique content from being scraped
• News Sites – Prevent unauthorized content aggregation
• E-commerce – Protect product descriptions and pricing data
• Publishers – Safeguard premium content from AI training datasets
• Any WordPress Site – That values their content and server resources

🚀 How It Works

1. Install and activate the plugin
2. Bot Traffic Shield immediately starts blocking known AI bots
3. Visit the Dashboard & Charts tab to monitor blocked traffic visually
4. Fine-tune protection in the AI Crawler Rules tab by toggling individual providers
5. Optionally control regional search engines in the Search Engine Rules tab
6. Check the Activity Log tab for detailed block records
7. Export logs for analysis or record-keeping

No complicated setup. No API keys. No subscriptions for the free version.

🔒 Privacy & Security

• All data stays on your server
• No external services or third-party dependencies on frontend
• GDPR compliant – you control all logged data
• Logs can be cleared at any time with a single click
• Chart.js loaded locally for WordPress.org compliance

📊 Perfect For

✅ Reducing bandwidth costs
✅ Protecting original content from AI training
✅ Improving server performance
✅ Maintaining competitive advantage
✅ Monitoring AI scraper activity with visual charts
✅ Preventing unauthorized data harvesting

Stop letting AI companies profit from your hard work. Install Bot Traffic Shield and take back control of your content today!

Privacy Policy

Bot Traffic Shield logs the following information when a bot is blocked (if logging is enabled):
* User-Agent string
* IP address
* Request timestamp
* Bot identifier

All data is stored locally in your WordPress database. No information is sent to external servers. You can disable logging or clear logs at any time from the plugin settings. Daily statistics are automatically pruned after 60 days to minimize database usage.

Support

For support, feature requests, or bug reports:
* Visit our website: https://wpsatkhira.com/
* Email: [email protected]

Credits

Developed by WordPress Satkhira

Automatic Installation

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
3. Search for “Bot Traffic Shield”
4. Click Install Now and then Activate
5. Go to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield to view your dashboard

Manual Installation

1. Download the plugin zip file
2. Upload the bot-traffic-shield folder to /wp-content/plugins/
3. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
4. Navigate to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield to view your dashboard

Post-Installation

• Blocking is enabled by default upon activation
• All AI crawler toggles are enabled by default for maximum protection
• Logging is enabled by default to power the analytics dashboard
• Visit the AI Crawler Rules tab to customize which AI providers to block
• Visit the Search Engine Rules tab to allow or block regional search engines (core Google/Bing/Yahoo stay always on)
• Check the Dashboard & Charts tab to see real-time blocking analytics

1. 

   Analytics Dashboard with interactive Chart.js graphs and KPI cards

2. 

   AI Crawler Rules – granular toggle switches for each AI provider

3. 

   Search Engine Rules – core engines always protected, regional crawlers toggleable

4. 

   Activity Log with pagination and CSV export

5. 

   General Settings and custom User-Agent blocklist

Will this affect my SEO or normal search engines?

Core search engines stay safe. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are always protected and cannot be disabled in the admin UI, so your main SEO rankings cannot be broken by mistake. Regional search engines (Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and others), social link preview bots, and SEO/monitoring crawlers are allowed by default. You can optionally block any of those from the Search Engine Rules tab if you do not need their traffic. Allowed crawlers are checked first before any blocking logic runs.

What’s new in version 2.0.1?

Version 2.0.1 prepares the free plugin for the official Pro add-on:
* Premium menu placeholders are now visible (locked until Bot Traffic Shield Pro is active)
* Cleaner integration point for Pro modules
* Version alignment with the Pro release
* Documentation updated with full Pro feature overview

What’s new in version 1.0.6?

Version 1.0.6 adds controllable Search Engine Rules:
* Core search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) remain always protected with no toggle
* Regional and other crawlers (Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, social previews, SEO tools, monitors) are individually toggleable
* Confirmation dialog when disabling a search engine crawler
* Disabled crawlers are blocked with 403 and Disallow in robots.txt
* Same UI pattern as the AI Crawler Rules tab

What’s new in version 1.0.5?

Version 1.0.5 is a major feature update:
* Interactive Analytics Dashboard with Chart.js trend graphs and doughnut charts
* Granular AI Crawler Toggles to enable/disable each AI provider individually
* SEO Safety Whitelist protecting 35+ search engines from accidental blocking
* KPI Summary Cards showing total blocks, daily blocks, active rules, and top scraper
* Admin Bar Widget with real-time blocked count and quick navigation
* 7/14/30-day timeframe switcher for chart analytics

Which bots does it block by default?

The plugin includes a comprehensive blocklist organized by AI provider:

• OpenAI: GPTBot, ChatGPT-User
• Anthropic: ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai, Claude-Web
• Google: Google-Extended (Gemini AI training)
• Perplexity AI: PerplexityBot
• ByteDance: Bytespider
• Meta: FacebookBot, Meta-ExternalAgent
• Apple: Applebot-Extended (AI training only — standard Applebot is whitelisted)
• Common Crawl: CCBot
• Cohere: cohere-ai
• Amazon: Amazonbot
• Diffbot: Diffbot
• Webhose: Omgilibot
• You.com: YouBot
• Timpi: Timpibot

You can enable or disable each provider individually in the AI Crawler Rules tab.

How do I enable or disable specific AI crawlers?

1. Go to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield
2. Click on the AI Crawler Rules tab
3. You’ll see a grid of AI provider cards with toggle switches
4. Turn off any AI crawler you want to allow
5. Use Select All or Deselect All for quick bulk changes
6. Click Save AI Crawler Rules

How do I block or allow regional search engines?

1. Go to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield
2. Click on the Search Engine Rules tab
3. Core engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) are always on and cannot be turned off
4. Toggle any regional or other crawler off to block it (you will see a confirmation warning)
5. Use Allow All or Block All for bulk changes
6. Click Save Search Engine Rules

Disabling a crawler (for example Baidu) blocks that crawler from indexing your site and adds a robots.txt Disallow rule. Only do this if you do not need that traffic.

How do I add a custom bot to the blocklist?

1. Go to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield
2. Click on the General Settings tab
3. Scroll to Custom User Agents to Block
4. Enter the User-Agent string (one per line)
5. Click Save General Settings

Example: If you want to block “BadBot/1.0”, simply add that line to the textarea.

How do I read the analytics charts?

The Dashboard & Charts tab shows two interactive charts:

• Blocked Requests Trend (line chart): Shows daily blocked bot counts over time. Use the 7/14/30-day buttons to change the timeframe.
• Bot Traffic Breakdown (doughnut chart): Shows which AI crawlers are hitting your site most frequently.

The KPI cards at the top show your total blocks, today’s blocks, number of active AI rules, and the most active scraper bot.

How do I export my block logs?

1. Go to Settings > Bot Traffic Shield
2. Click on the Activity Log tab
3. Scroll to the Export Log to CSV section
4. Choose your date range (7 days, 14 days, 30 days, or all time)
5. Click Download CSV Export

The CSV file will download automatically with all blocked bot details, including timestamps, bot names, IP addresses, and User-Agent strings.

What is Bot Traffic Shield Pro?

Bot Traffic Shield Pro is the official premium add-on that adds:

• Smart behavioral bot detection with Bot Score (0–100)
• Rate limiting (per-IP and per-crawler)
• Temporary / permanent IP management
• Advanced analytics and outcome tracking
• Real-time alerts (Email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Webhooks)
• Spike / anomaly detection

The free version remains fully functional. Pro is optional and unlocks deeper control and automation. Get Bot Traffic Shield Pro & View Pricing ↗

Does the free version require any subscription or external service?

No. The free version works completely offline on your server. No API keys, no accounts, no subscriptions.

2.0.1 (2026-10-11)

• New: Premium menu placeholders (locked until Bot Traffic Shield Pro is active)
• New: Official integration point for Bot Traffic Shield Pro add-on
• New: Full Pro feature documentation added to this readme so free users can see what’s available
• Improved: Version alignment with the Pro release (2.0.1)
• Improved: Cleaner architecture for future Pro modules

1.0.6 (2026-09-27)

• New: Search Engine Rules tab — split whitelist into Core (Google, Bing, Yahoo; always protected) and Regional/Other (individually toggleable)
• New: Confirmation warning when disabling a regional search engine crawler
• New: Disabled regional crawlers are actively blocked (403) and receive robots.txt Disallow rules
• New: Allow All / Block All bulk actions for regional search engines
• New: Developer filter btsld_core_search_engines for the always-protected list
• Improved: robots.txt Allow/Disallow rules follow enabled vs disabled search engine toggles
• Improved: Admin UI now has five tabs including Search Engine Rules

1.0.5 (2026-08-23)

• New: Interactive analytics dashboard powered by Chart.js with trend line and doughnut charts
• New: Switchable chart timeframes (7-day, 14-day, 30-day views)
• New: KPI summary cards (Total Blocked, Blocked Today, Active AI Rules, Top Scraper)
• New: Granular AI crawler toggle system — enable/disable each AI provider individually
• New: 15 AI provider groups covering 20+ User-Agent signatures (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Apple, ByteDance, Perplexity, Common Crawl, Cohere, Amazon, Diffbot, You.com, and more)
• New: Select All / Deselect All bulk actions for AI crawler rules
• New: SEO Safety Whitelist protecting 35+ legitimate search engines and social media indexers from accidental blocking
• New: Explicit Allow: / robots.txt rules for all whitelisted search engines
• New: btsld_search_engine_whitelist developer filter hook
• New: Admin toolbar widget with real-time “Blocked Today” counter and quick navigation
• New: Daily aggregated statistics engine with 60-day auto-pruning
• Improved: Complete admin UI redesign with 4-tab layout (Dashboard, AI Rules, Settings, Log)
• Improved: Modern card-based design with responsive grid layouts
• Improved: O(1) performance for admin bar stats lookup
• Improved: Enhanced CSV export with 14-day option and UTF-8 BOM for Excel
• Improved: WordPress 6.8 compatibility verified
• Fixed: Singleton pattern hardened against cloning and unserialization
• Fixed: Proper handling of empty chart states when no bots have been blocked

1.0.4 (2025-11-26)

• New: Clear Log button with AJAX handler
• Improved: Modern, redesigned admin interface

1.0.3 (2025-11-05)

• New: Pagination system for block logs (20 entries per page)
• New: CSV export with date range filtering (7 days, 30 days, all time)
• Improved: Modern, redesigned admin interface
• Improved: Better mobile responsiveness
• Enhanced: Code optimization and performance improvements
• Fixed: WordPress coding standards compliance
• Fixed: Proper escaping and sanitization throughout

1.0.2 (2025-10-25)

• New: Modern admin interface design
• New: Enhanced logging capabilities
• Improved: Overall performance optimizations
• Fixed: Various bug fixes

1.0.1 (2025-10-23)

• Fixed: Bug fixes
• Improved: Performance updates

1.0.0 (2025-10-15)

• Initial release
• Real-time bot blocking
• robots.txt integration
• Default blocklist of 20+ bots
• Logging and statistics
• Custom User-Agent blocking