Increasing "Access Denied" (403) Errors in Google Webmaster Tools for WordPress

  • johnsmith

    (@lennoxtutoring)


    9 years, 3 months ago

    On 31 December I started getting “Access Denied” errors in Google Webmaster Tools for my website.

    It started with 1, then 214, then 147, then 419, then 888, then 441, and now today 1639. My site has been delisting then relisting on Google like a yoyo since January 1, 2015.

    My ISP adamantly denied any error on their end until I placed the issue onto Google Forums. The results made them realize they need to look into it.

    Currently, the ISP will not place anything into the support notes, nor will they comment about the errors. I can get no answer from them.

    I’m using Twenty-Eleven WP 4.1 with iThemes, JetPack and several other plugins that never caused such an issue before (I’m talking years).

    Does anyone know what could conceivably cause this? Even if your suggestion is off the wall, it’s better than having nothing to work on.

    If for some reason this is the incorrect forum for such a conversation, could you kindly point me to the correct forum.

    Thank you,
    John

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • petercralen

    (@petercralen)

    9 years, 3 months ago

    Access denied can be bc. not enough permission for you files/folders
    You can check them using ftp, ussually folders 755 and files 644.

    Do you see that error only in google webmaster or also when you visit that urls on your site?
    Maybe some security plugin block something for google ? Check available option in ithemes or other security plugins.

    Are there any additional details in webmaster about your errors ?

    Thread Starter johnsmith

    (@lennoxtutoring)

    9 years, 3 months ago

    The way these errors took place is mysterious. In terms of Google, my site went down in flames, however Bing appeared unaffected. I know this could only happen if Googlebot was being blocked.

    HI’ve chatted in Google Forums, and this was a very important issue that came up:

    “There must be a firewall, all servers have one. It’s suicidal not to have one. So you can take it for granted there’s a firewall. But the software that manages the firewall has to do so smartly and not block IPs without performing a reverse lookup to see whose IP it is – and allow Google and all other search engine robots and visitors who’ve given no reason to be blocked. This software at times is not well oiled. Your server claims there’s a CDN and Incapsula involved. If that’s not true the server admins had better fix the server’s “call name” as it were. Unless they just use that as smoke and mirrors. Now usually when the firewall blocks access there’s no server response code like a 403, it just doesn’t respond. A 403 usually comes from the server itself, the website itself actually. So do you have Wordfence or some such software meant to protect a WordPress installation and a Googlebot maybe got trapped in there by mistake? You should check.”

    I never had anything from Google blocked in i-Themes Security, however to be certain I removed every numerical IP block. There was still no change. The ISP deactivated the plugin (not more than two days ago). Currently I have 123/134 pages listed.

    In response to the conversation with Google Forum, I realized that having too many tags is spammy, so I deleted may of the tags. I expected “not found” errors with these, not “access denied.”

    Webmaster currently showing 1 server error, 2 soft 404, 1639 access denied, and 466 not found. The number of access denied is steadily increasing.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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