Redirecting inbound links (that are hotlinking to my sites)
Permalink
Hi All,
I have a few websites that are direct-linking to some of my files. I've adjusted the links on these files so that users have to be logged in to download them, however, because these sites 'know' the path to the files I'm going to struggle to deal with the problem.
The files are PDFs, so by clicking a link on those sites, the visitor downloads the PDF into their browser without ever visiting my site.
Is there a way to redirect all traffic originating from specific sites to a particular page on my website?
Alternatively, is there a way to redirect an external visitor who has clicked on a link to one of my PDFs?
Many thanks,
Mike
I have a few websites that are direct-linking to some of my files. I've adjusted the links on these files so that users have to be logged in to download them, however, because these sites 'know' the path to the files I'm going to struggle to deal with the problem.
The files are PDFs, so by clicking a link on those sites, the visitor downloads the PDF into their browser without ever visiting my site.
Is there a way to redirect all traffic originating from specific sites to a particular page on my website?
Alternatively, is there a way to redirect an external visitor who has clicked on a link to one of my PDFs?
Many thanks,
Mike
You can stop the hotlinking through an .htaccess file or through your host control panel.
cPanel Hotlink Protection:
- this also includes a "Url to Redirect to" field that "allows you to specify a web page that hotlinkers will be redirected to when they try to include your content in their web pages"
https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/HotLink+Protection...
http://support.hostgator.com/articles/cpanel/what-is-hot-linking-ho...
using .htaccess:
https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204644230/prevent-hotl...