Title: Staging Bot Block
Author: Jared Pomranky
Published: <strong>13, Avientu de 2025</strong>
Last modified: 13, Avientu de 2025

---

Guetar plugins

![](https://ps.w.org/staging-bot-block/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3418634)

![](https://ps.w.org/staging-bot-block/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3418623)

# Staging Bot Block

 By [Jared Pomranky](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jaredpomranky/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/staging-bot-block.1.0.1.zip)

 * [Details](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/#installation)
 * [Development](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-bot-block/)

## Description

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.

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

### Important Notes for Staging Environments

If your hosting platform or CDN uses full-page caching (such as Cloudflare APO, 
WP Rocket’s 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.

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

Once caching is disabled or bypassed, all HTML pages will properly return a 403 
for blocked bots or a redirect when configured.

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * Plugin settings screen.

## Installation

 1. Upload the plugin folder to `/wp-content/plugins/` or install directly through 
    the WordPress Plugins screen.
 2. Activate the plugin.
 3. Go to “Settings  Staging Bot Block.”
 4. Enable the plugin and select your preferred handling mode.
 5. (Optional) Add extra user agents to block.

## FAQ

### Will this block all bots?

No. It only blocks common search engine crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot, Yandex, etc.)
plus any additional user agents you add.

### Why do I still see 200 responses in my crawler?

Static assets (images, JS, CSS) bypass WordPress and cannot be intercepted. Only
HTML pages are blocked or redirected.

### Why does my home page still return 200 as Googlebot?

This usually means your CDN or cache plugin is serving cached HTML. See the “Important
Notes for Staging Environments” section.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“Staging Bot Block” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Jared Pomranky ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jaredpomranky/)

[Translate “Staging Bot Block” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/staging-bot-block)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/staging-bot-block/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/staging-bot-block/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/staging-bot-block/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/staging-bot-block/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.0.0

 * Initial public release
 * Bot blocking and redirect modes
 * X-Robots-Tag support
 * Admin warning banner
 * Optional extra user agents field
 * Activation notice

#### 1.0.1

 * Tested up to 6.9

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.1**
 *  Last updated **4 meses ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.9.4**
 *  PHP version ** 7.2 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/)
 * Tags
 * [bot block](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/bot-block/)[redirects](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/redirects/)
   [robots](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/robots/)[seo](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/seo/)
   [staging](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/staging/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://ast.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-bot-block/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-bot-block/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-bot-block/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Jared Pomranky ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jaredpomranky/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-bot-block/)