Security screen instead of the page

Why it matters

Without this check such a page looks like a server error or an empty page. Search engines sometimes get the same screen. Then your page drops out of Google without anything being wrong with the page itself.

How Snaglist checks it

Snaglist recognises the screens of common firewalls and security services by their text, in an error response or on a very short page. These pages are not counted as broken and do not get other checks.

Snaglist reports this as a warning. It costs 15 percent of the page in the health score. Fix it before your next crawl.

Common causes

• A firewall or security plugin that asks visitors to prove they are human
• A hosting party with a protection against many requests
• A setting that stays on after an attack

How to fix it

1. Check which service shows the screen.
2. Allow Snaglist through in that service.
3. Use URL inspection in Search Console to check whether Google can see the page.

How it shows in the report

In the report for your client this appears under the heading "Pages behind a security screen". When everything is in order, the report says: "No page shows a security screen to Snaglist".