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Block WordPress Before You Launch
April 2, 2009 by Andy Brudtkuhl - Leave A Comment
If you are working on a WordPress site and do not want anyone to see it before you launch there are several things you can do.. I’ll start with the easiest first.
To block your WordPress site from search engines, click on Settings -> Privacy. Choose to block your site from search engine spiders. But don’t forget to switch this back when you go live! If you don’t – you won’t get any organic search traffic.
We call this security through obscurity – no one should be able to find your WordPress site unless you give them the direct URL.
Secondly you can use a plugin called “Registered Only“. This plugin allows only registered users (in this case your Admin user) to view your WordPress site.
Our last recommendation depends on what web host you are using.. But most of them will allow you to lock down a directory to a specific username and password. This is the most effective way to secure your site before launch.
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hi, i have a question i was hoping you could help me with, i had a site indexed before i had done even a bit of work on it, literally the day after i registered the domain. So anyway i put the search engine block on and finished the site. I then got some high pr links which have been picked up by google but it is not showing my homepage as being registered in the serps. have i incurred some sort of penalty as the site was ranking 2nd page previously?
A few weeks ago Google changed PageRank and it had a similar effect on some
of my “younger” sites. It should be nothing to worry about and will likely
correct itself over the next several months. I dont think you are
“blacklisted” per say.
Thanks for the reply, it got listed today and am currently 6th in google for a 30k exact match keyphrase!!! wohooo
Nice! congrats!
Andy Brudtkuhl
YouMetAndy.com
abrudtkuhl@gmail.com
thanks, ive just put another one along the same lines to be indexed, same formula so i hope it will rank and give me a nice suprise when i wake up in the morning!
Nice! If you'd like to share them, please feel free!
Hi, totally forgot i’d posted here, the site i was writing about ranked really well but bounced around the serps for a while, seem to have a stable position now though and making a nice bit of extra cash. I know what you’re saying mike, so easy to forget to change the block!
I've done that same thing before.. Now I generally don't block them – but just wait to “market” it until the site is ready. I figure if one or two people arrive from search while the site is being built won't be too much of a problem. At least the problem is less than not having Google indexing your site
I always turn this option on (blocking the site from search engines), but too many times I forgot to disable it when I am ready to launch. Then I spend the first few weeks live wondering why we aren't seeing much organic traffic…haha.