Google search crawling errors (403) on some WordPress Hosting sites
Incident
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Identified
WordPress Hosting / Website Pro, specifically Google search indexing. Sites stay online for visitors.
We've found a problem affecting some WordPress Hosting sites. Google's search crawler (Googlebot) is being blocked with a "403 Forbidden" error. Visitors can still load these sites normally. However, Google can't crawl affected pages or read their sitemaps, so pages may start dropping out of Google search results.
Who is affected
Sites whose domain still points to our older hosting IP address, 104.154.100.138. Sites pointed to our current hosting IP aren't affected.
What you might see
Pages showing as "Blocked due to access forbidden (403)" in Google Search Console
Sitemaps showing "Couldn't fetch"
Fewer indexed pages, or lower search traffic, since early August
What we're doing
Our engineering team has found the cause and is working on a fix on our side. That fix won't need you to change anything. We'll post an update here when it's rolled out.
What you can do now
To fix a site right away, update its domain's DNS A record from 104.154.100.138 to 34.149.86.124 . If you're not sure where your domain points, or need help updating DNS, contact Support with the site's domain and account ID (AGID).
After the fix
Google won't reindex affected pages on its own right away. Once a site is fixed, resubmit its sitemap in Google Search Console and request indexing for your key pages.
We're sorry for the disruption. We know search visibility matters to your clients, and we'll share updates as soon as we have them.
We've found a problem affecting some WordPress Hosting sites. Google's search crawler (Googlebot) is being blocked with a "403 Forbidden" error. Visitors can still load these sites normally. However, Google can't crawl affected pages or read their sitemaps, so pages may start dropping out of Google search results.
Who is affected
Sites whose domain still points to our older hosting IP address, 104.154.100.138. Sites pointed to our current hosting IP aren't affected.
What you might see
Pages showing as "Blocked due to access forbidden (403)" in Google Search Console
Sitemaps showing "Couldn't fetch"
Fewer indexed pages, or lower search traffic, since early August
What we're doing
Our engineering team has found the cause and is working on a fix on our side. That fix won't need you to change anything. We'll post an update here when it's rolled out.
What you can do now
To fix a site right away, update its domain's DNS A record from 104.154.100.138 to 34.149.86.124 . If you're not sure where your domain points, or need help updating DNS, contact Support with the site's domain and account ID (AGID).
After the fix
Google won't reindex affected pages on its own right away. Once a site is fixed, resubmit its sitemap in Google Search Console and request indexing for your key pages.
We're sorry for the disruption. We know search visibility matters to your clients, and we'll share updates as soon as we have them.
This incident affects: Wordpress Hosting.