Title: AI Visibility Score : problems
Last modified: June 4, 2026

---

# AI Visibility Score : problems

 *  [zepolo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zepolo/)
 * (@zepolo)
 * [3 days, 18 hours ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ai-visibility-score-problems/)
 * AI Visibility Score. When we analyze how well our site is optimized to be discovered.
 * We have this message (5 wordpress websites) :
 * **Error analyzing page**
 * Could not connect to the site: cURL error 28: Connection timed out after 10000
   milliseconds
 * And we have : Crawlers that visited your site in the last 30 days despite being
   in your Disallow list. What can we do ? We have block crawlers at PHP level by
   User-Agent .

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Fernando Tellado](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fernandot/)
 * (@fernandot)
 * [3 days, 14 hours ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ai-visibility-score-problems/#post-18929105)
 * Bonjour [@zepolo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zepolo/),
 * Thanks for the details. These are actually two separate things, and the good 
   news is that neither is a bug in the plugin nor a problem with your content.
 * **1. “Could not connect / cURL error 28: timed out”**
 * To score a page, VigIA requests your own site over HTTP (a “loopback” request).
   This error means **your server can’t connect back to its own public URL** within
   10 seconds. It’s a server/network issue, not a slow page and not the plugin itself.
   It’s very common when a site sits behind Cloudflare, a CDN/proxy, or a security
   firewall that silently drops these self-requests.
 * Could you check two things so we can pinpoint it?
    - In WordPress, go to **Tools → Site Health**. If you see a failed notice about**“
      loopback requests”**, that confirms the cause.
    - Let me know whether these sites are behind **Cloudflare / a CDN / a proxy**,
      and whether you run a **security firewall or rules that block by User-Agent
      or IP**. That’s likely what’s blocking the analyzer, and I’ll tell you exactly
      what to whitelist.
 * **2. “Crawlers that visited despite being in your Disallow list”**
 * This one is expected behavior, not an error:
    - `Disallow` in robots.txt is a _request_, not a lock. Well-behaved bots obey
      it; misbehaving ones ignore it. That list is simply showing you **which crawlers
      ignore your robots.txt**.
    - Your PHP User-Agent block **is still working**. When it blocks a bot, the 
      bot gets a **403 Forbidden** and receives no content, but the request still
      reached your site, so it gets logged. So “visit” here means _“knocked on the
      door”_, not _“got in and copied your content.”_
 * You can confirm your block is doing its job: in VigIA’s visit log, those crawlers
   should show **HTTP status 403**. If they do, you’re fully protected and can safely
   ignore them. (If any show **200**, send me the User-Agent and I’ll help you tighten
   the rule.)
 * One tip: User-Agent blocking happens _after_ the bot already reached your site(
   so it’s always logged), and bad bots often fake their User-Agent. If you want
   to stop them reaching the server at all, the most effective place is at the edge:
   Cloudflare’s “Block AI bots” / WAF, or blocking by IP/ASN.
 * Just send me the Site Health result and your hosting/firewall setup, and I’ll
   close out the connection issue.
 *  Thread Starter [zepolo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zepolo/)
 * (@zepolo)
 * [3 days, 13 hours ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ai-visibility-score-problems/#post-18929179)
 * hola Fernando,
 * This is site health :
 * Lors du test de l’API REST, une erreur s’est produite :
 * Point de terminaison de l’API REST : [https://www.xxx.com/xxx/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post?context=edit](https://www.xxx.com/xxx/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post?context=edit)
   
   Réponse de l’API REST : (http_request_failed) cURL error 28: Connection.
 * I don’t use cloudflare. I use wordfence and plugin BBQ pro, Really Simple Security
   Pro.
 *  Plugin Author [Fernando Tellado](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fernandot/)
 * (@fernandot)
 * [3 days, 6 hours ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ai-visibility-score-problems/#post-18929309)
 * Perfect, that’s confirms the cause.
 * The Site Health test shows WordPress itself can’t reach its own REST API (same`
   cURL error 28`), so this is a server “loopback” issue, not VigIA and not your
   content. Any plugin that checks your site this way will hit the same wall.
 * The most likely cause is your security plugins overlapping. To fix it, temporarily
   deactivate them one at a time and re-run the Site Health test after each (Wordfence
   → BBQ Pro → Really Simple Security Pro). The one that makes the test pass is 
   the one blocking the self-request: re-enable it and add your server’s own IP 
   to its allowlist.
 * As a side note, running three security plugins together, each with its own firewall,
   is what tends to cause exactly this kind of conflict. Consolidating to a single
   one avoids it. Wordfence already covers most of what the other two do. Another
   solid, completely free option is [Vigilant](https://wordpress.org/plugins/vigilante/),
   my own plugin.
 * Since this sits on the server/security side rather than VigIA, your host or those
   plugins’ own support are the best people to help you apply the fix. Once the 
   Site Health loopback test passes, VigIA’s score will work on its own.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fai-visibility-score-problems%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
to reply to this topic.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/vigia/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3431036)
 * [VigIA - AI Visibility, Analytics & Control](https://wordpress.org/plugins/vigia/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/vigia/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/vigia/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/vigia/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/vigia/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/vigia/reviews/)

 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Fernando Tellado](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fernandot/)
 * Last activity: [3 days, 6 hours ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/ai-visibility-score-problems/#post-18929309)
 * Status: not resolved