{"id":262508,"date":"2025-12-13T01:12:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T01:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/staging-bot-block\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T19:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T19:16:49","slug":"staging-bot-block","status":"publish","type":"plugin","link":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/staging-bot-block\/","author":23404710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","version":"1.0.1","stable_tag":"1.0.1","tested":"6.9.4","requires":"4.6","requires_php":"7.2","requires_plugins":null,"header_name":"Staging Bot Block","header_author":"Net Profit Marketing","header_description":"Prevent search engines from indexing staging sites by blocking or redirecting bots, with a clear admin warning banner so staging safety is not forgotten.","assets_banners_color":"1e3a5e","last_updated":"2025-12-13 19:16:49","external_support_url":"","external_repository_url":"","donate_link":"","header_plugin_uri":"","header_author_uri":"https:\/\/www.netprofitmarketing.com","rating":0,"author_block_rating":0,"active_installs":0,"downloads":179,"num_ratings":0,"support_threads":0,"support_threads_resolved":0,"author_block_count":0,"sections":["description","installation","faq","changelog"],"tags":{"1.0.0":{"tag":"1.0.0","author":"jaredpomranky","date":"2025-12-13 01:39:46"},"1.0.1":{"tag":"1.0.1","author":"jaredpomranky","date":"2025-12-13 19:16:49"}},"upgrade_notice":[],"ratings":[],"assets_icons":{"icon-128x128.png":{"filename":"icon-128x128.png","revision":3418623,"resolution":"128x128","location":"assets","locale":""},"icon-256x256.png":{"filename":"icon-256x256.png","revision":3418623,"resolution":"256x256","location":"assets","locale":""}},"assets_banners":{"banner-1544x500.png":{"filename":"banner-1544x500.png","revision":3418634,"resolution":"1544x500","location":"assets","locale":""},"banner-772x250.png":{"filename":"banner-772x250.png","revision":3418634,"resolution":"772x250","location":"assets","locale":""}},"assets_blueprints":{},"all_blocks":[],"tagged_versions":["1.0.0","1.0.1"],"block_files":[],"assets_screenshots":{"screenshot-1.png":{"filename":"screenshot-1.png","revision":3418623,"resolution":"1","location":"assets","locale":""}},"screenshots":{"1":"Plugin settings screen."},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"plugin_section":[],"plugin_tags":[12915,726,6499,186,19979],"plugin_category":[55],"plugin_contributors":[252184],"plugin_business_model":[],"class_list":["post-262508","plugin","type-plugin","status-publish","hentry","plugin_tags-bot-block","plugin_tags-redirects","plugin_tags-robots","plugin_tags-seo","plugin_tags-staging","plugin_category-seo-and-marketing","plugin_contributors-jaredpomranky","plugin_committers-jaredpomranky"],"banners":{"banner":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/staging-bot-block\/assets\/banner-772x250.png?rev=3418634","banner_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/staging-bot-block\/assets\/banner-1544x500.png?rev=3418634","banner_rtl":false,"banner_2x_rtl":false},"icons":{"svg":false,"icon":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/staging-bot-block\/assets\/icon-128x128.png?rev=3418623","icon_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/staging-bot-block\/assets\/icon-256x256.png?rev=3418623","generated":false},"screenshots":[{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/staging-bot-block\/assets\/screenshot-1.png?rev=3418623","caption":"Plugin settings screen."}],"raw_content":"\n

Staging sites often get accidentally indexed by Google or Bing, leading to duplicate content, keyword cannibalization, and production pages being outranked by staging domains. This plugin prevents that from happening.<\/p>\n\n

Staging Bot Block can:\n* Block search engine bots with a 403 response and proper X-Robots-Tag headers.\n* Redirect bots (or bots and users) to your production domain when needed.\n* Display a persistent warning banner inside the WordPress admin so developers never forget that staging protections are active.\n* Support additional user agents through an easy settings field.<\/p>\n\n

Important Notes for Staging Environments<\/h3>\n\n

If your hosting platform or CDN uses full-page caching (such as Cloudflare APO, WP Rocket\u2019s page cache, or server-level varnish), cached HTML may be served directly without loading WordPress. When this happens, Staging Bot Block cannot inspect user agents, block bots, or send redirect headers.<\/p>\n\n

To ensure correct behavior:\n* Disable Cloudflare APO or create a Cache Rule to bypass cache for the staging subdomain or for Googlebot\/Bingbot.\n* Clear or disable caching plugins on staging.\n* Avoid server-level caching for staging domains.<\/p>\n\n

Once caching is disabled or bypassed, all HTML pages will properly return a 403 for blocked bots or a redirect when configured.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Upload the plugin folder to \/wp-content\/plugins\/<\/code> or install directly through the WordPress Plugins screen.<\/li>\n
  2. Activate the plugin.<\/li>\n
  3. Go to \u201cSettings \u2192 Staging Bot Block.\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Enable the plugin and select your preferred handling mode.<\/li>\n
  5. (Optional) Add extra user agents to block.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
    \n

    Will this block all bots?<\/h3><\/dt>\n

    No. It only blocks common search engine crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot, Yandex, etc.) plus any additional user agents you add.<\/p><\/dd>\n

    Why do I still see 200 responses in my crawler?<\/h3><\/dt>\n

    Static assets (images, JS, CSS) bypass WordPress and cannot be intercepted. Only HTML pages are blocked or redirected.<\/p><\/dd>\n

    Why does my home page still return 200 as Googlebot?<\/h3><\/dt>\n

    This usually means your CDN or cache plugin is serving cached HTML. See the \u201cImportant Notes for Staging Environments\u201d section.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n\n

    1.0.0<\/h4>\n\n
      \n
    • Initial public release<\/li>\n
    • Bot blocking and redirect modes<\/li>\n
    • X-Robots-Tag support<\/li>\n
    • Admin warning banner<\/li>\n
    • Optional extra user agents field<\/li>\n
    • Activation notice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

      1.0.1<\/h4>\n\n
        \n
      • Tested up to 6.9<\/li>\n<\/ul>","raw_excerpt":"Prevent search engines from indexing staging sites by blocking or redirecting bots, with a clear admin warning banner.","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin\/262508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/plugin"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262508"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wporg\/v1\/users\/jaredpomranky"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"plugin_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_section?post=262508"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_tags?post=262508"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_category?post=262508"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_contributors?post=262508"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_business_model","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scn.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_business_model?post=262508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}