Hotlinking is a term that identifies the addition of images on a given Internet site by using direct links. In case you have site A, for example, and somebody creates website B and wants to add a couple of images from your website, they can either save the images and then add them on their Internet site or they could simply put links on their Internet site to the images on yours. As a result, when a visitor opens Internet site B, site B will steal traffic from your own site A, since the images will load from your hosting account. This process is typically used for documents and other types of files too. If you want to prevent 3rd parties from stealing your content and from using your own hosting account’s resources, you are able to limit their ability to use direct links to your files on their Internet sites.
Hotlinking Protection in Shared Website Hosting
It shall not require more than several mouse clicks to activate the hotlink protection feature which we provide even if this is the very first website hosting account which you use, as all our shared website hosting plans include a very simple and easy to work with tool that will enable you to prevent direct links to your content. The tool is an element of our advanced Hepsia CP, so it provides the exact same easy-to-use point & click interface. Once you log in to your account’s back office and go to the Hotlink Protection section, you'll only have to select the domain or subdomain you want to secure from a drop-down list. If you would like to enable this function only for a particular Internet site folder, you've got the option to do that. All sites with active hotlink protection will appear in this section and you will be able to deactivate the service by selecting the checkbox alongside the given site and clicking on the Delete button.
Hotlinking Protection in Semi-dedicated Servers
If you have a semi-dedicated server account with our company and you notice that somebody has hotlinked any of your images, you may use the protection tool that we have developed and integrated into our in-house built Hepsia hosting CP. Once you activate this function, a server-generated image shall appear on the third-party Internet site rather than your actual images. You'll only need to check out the Hotlink Protection section within the CP and select the domain or subdomain that your site uses from a handy drop-down menu - it's as easy as that. If needed, you will also have the option to enable the function just for a particular subfolder and not for the website altogether. Deactivating the feature is as effortless - get back to the very same section, check the box alongside the given site and then press the Delete button.