Sometimes websites get overwhelmed by too many visitors, especially bots. To keep your website stable and running smoothly, we use a protection system called PoW (Proof of Work). This FAQ explains PoW, why it happens, and what you can do if your site is affected. In most cases, your visitors can access your website without any issues.
- What is PoW?
- Why is PoW used?
- What happens when PoW is active?
- Does PoW affect my SEO?
- Is this kind of protection common?
- What can I do if my site is affected by PoW?
- Who can help me?
What is PoW?
PoW stands for Proof of Work. It’s a simple test that visitors to your website must pass to prove they’re real people, not automated bots.
Imagine your website is a store with a security guard at the door. When someone tries to enter, the guard asks: “Are you a real customer, or a robot?”
PoW is that guard. It asks the visitor’s browser to solve a small task behind the scenes. If the visitor passes, they can enter the website as usual. If not, their access is blocked.
Why is PoW used?
PoW is activated automatically to protect your website (and the server it’s on) when there’s a high level of automated traffic - often from bots that scrape data, run automated searches, or attempt attacks.
Without PoW, too much bot traffic can cause:
- Slow loading times
- Crashes or downtime
- Problems for other customers on the same shared hosting server
PoW helps filter out harmful traffic before it causes trouble.
What happens when PoW is active?
Your website stays online, but you or your visitors might notice:
- Pages load more slowly
- Some forms, buttons, or integrations don’t work
- Tools like Google Ads or SEO crawlers (Google Search Console, Bing, etc.) may not be able to access your site temporarily
In most cases, regular visitors using a standard browser won’t even notice PoW running.
Does PoW affect my SEO?
Not usually. When PoW blocks search engines, we return a special message (called a 503 status code) that tells search engines the site is temporarily unavailable and they should come back later. This is standard practice and generally won’t affect your search rankings.
Is this kind of protection common?
Yes. Many hosting providers use similar protections to guard against bad bot traffic. While names and methods may vary (like rate limiting, bot blocking, or firewalls), these types of safeguards are widely used across the industry.
What can I do if my site is affected by PoW?
Here are some steps you (or your developer) can take:
- Review your robots.txt and .htaccess files to limit unnecessary bots.
- Disable or adjust high-load plugins, especially for stats, search, or backups.
- Use security plugins or firewalls to block or restrict abusive IP addresses.
- Check your traffic sources to identify unusual spikes or bot activity.
- Contact our support team for help analyzing logs or traffic patterns.
Once the traffic load returns to normal, we can manually remove PoW from your site when contacting support.
Who can help me?
If you need assistance:
Please reach out to our Support Team. We can explain what triggered PoW and help you review traffic patterns.
If you use tools like Google Ads, SEO crawlers, or other integrations, please mention them so we can check for possible conflicts.
If PoW happens frequently, consider upgrading to a Managed VPS plan. With dedicated resources, your website won’t be affected by bot traffic in the same way, since it doesn’t share the server with other sites.
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