Hotlinking is a term that refers to the inclusion of images on a given Internet site through the use of direct links. In case you have site A, for instance, and somebody creates website B and wishes to add a couple of images from your Internet site, they can either save the images and then include them on their site or they may simply put links on their Internet site to the images on yours. Consequently, whenever a visitor opens website B, site B will steal traffic from your own website A, because the images will load directly from your web hosting account. This approach is typically used for documents and other types of files as well. If you'd like to prevent 3rd parties from stealing your content and from using your own web hosting account’s resources, you'll be able to restrict their ability to use direct links to your files on their sites.

Hotlinking Protection in Cloud Website Hosting

It will not take more than a couple of clicks to switch on the hotlink security feature which we offer you even if this is the first web hosting account which you use, as all of our cloud website hosting plans come with a rather simple and easy to work with tool that will enable you to stop direct links to your content. The tool is a component of our advanced Hepsia CP, so it provides the exact same easy-to-use point-and-click interface. After you log in to your account’s back office and navigate to the Hotlink Protection section, you will only have to choose the domain or subdomain that you would like to secure from a drop-down list. If you would like to activate this function only for a specific Internet site folder, you will have the option to do that. All websites with active hotlink protection will appear within this section and you can easily disable the service by selecting the checkbox beside the given site and pressing the Delete button.

Hotlinking Protection in Semi-dedicated Servers

If you have a semi-dedicated server account with us and you notice that another person has hotlinked any of your images, you may use the protection tool that we have designed and included in our in-house built Hepsia hosting CP. When you switch on this option, a server-generated image will appear on the third-party Internet site as a substitute for your actual images. You will only have to visit the Hotlink Protection section inside the CP and pick the domain or subdomain that your Internet site uses from a convenient drop-down menu - it is as elementary as that. If needed, you will also have the option to switch on the feature only for a particular subfolder and not for the website in its entirety. Deactivating the feature is equally effortless - return to the exact same section, check the box alongside the given website and then press the Delete button.