How to Manage Hotlink Protection
Hotlink protection is essential for preventing unauthorized websites from using your images and files, which can drain your bandwidth. This guide will show you how to set up hotlink protection in your Account Manager to keep your content secure and preserve your resources.
Understanding Hotlink Protection
To protect your images or other files from being hot-linked on another website, you may use hotlink protection. Hotlinking is the use of an image of the file on another server by pulling the source image from the original server. This uses the bandwidth of your Bluehost account. It appears as though your images are on the other website, even though the source is pulling from your Bluehost account. Hotlink protection stops this type of leeching or bandwidth theft.
Managing Hotlink Protection
Setting up hotlink protection is easy by using the Hotlink Protection Management tool built into the Account Manager.
How to Set Up Hotlink Protection
- Log in to your Bluehost Account Manager.
- Go to Websites and click the SETTINGS button on the website you need to setup the Hotlink Protection.
- In the Website details page, go to the Advanced tab and click the MANAGE button under Hotlink Protection.
- In the Hotlink Protection Management section, you can choose the file type you want to protect, or you can click the box beside the SELECT ALL option to protect all types of files available on the list.
Customize Fields
If you still want other people to have access to your files but don’t want them to be hot-linked, you can customize their access by following the directions below.
- You can tick the box under the Direct Requests section to give access to the restricted files.
- To redirect blocked requests, provide the URL of the page you’d like to show in the URL field.
Summary
Setting up hotlink protection in Account Manager is an effective way to prevent bandwidth theft and ensure your files remain safe from unauthorized use on other websites. By following these steps, you’ll secure your Bluehost-hosted files while allowing authorized access for your own website visitors.
If you need further assistance, feel free to contact us via Chat or Phone:
- Chat Support - While on our website, you should see a CHAT bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click anywhere on the bubble to begin a chat session.
- Phone Support -
- US: 888-401-4678
- International: +1 801-765-9400
You may also refer to our Knowledge Base articles to help answer common questions and guide you through various setup, configuration, and troubleshooting steps.