How to block bad bots User-Agents in Nginx

To block bots by User-Agent in Nginx, add the following to the server entry of the website.

if ($http_user_agent ~ (semrush|opensiteexplorer|ahrefs|seekport|mj12bot)) {
    return 403;
}

if ($http_user_agent ~ (semrush|opensiteexplorer|ahrefs|seekport|mj12bot)) {

return 403;

}

Restart Nginx

systemctl restart nginx

1	systemctl restart nginx

To block acces to a specific file or folder, use

location /file-to-block.php {
    return 408;
}

location /file-to-block.php {

return 408;

}

Back to Nginx