WP Alpha has an inbuilt function that lets you hide a site behind a username and password. This is useful for staging sites and sites in development where you don’t want the site indexed by Google or accessible to the public.
In this short video we walk you through the password protection feature: how to enable and disable it, and how to set the username and password.
Step by step
- Log in to the hosting console and go to Websites & Domains. Open the site under WordPress. You can also reach it through the WordPress manager.
- Find the toggle called Password protection and switch it on.
- Enter the username you want visitors to use, for example administrator1.
- Generate a password and keep a copy of it, along with the username.
- Click Protect.
- Open the site in your browser to check it. Before anything loads, you should see a prompt asking for the username and password.
- When you no longer need protection, switch the Password protection toggle off again.
When to use it
Password protection suits a staging site or a site you are still building. Anyone without the login details is stopped at the prompt, and that includes Google’s crawlers, so unfinished pages and duplicate staging content stay out of search results.
Do not use it on a live production site. Search engines will not be able to reach your pages, which will damage your SEO.
Things to check
- Make sure you have the right site selected before you switch protection on or off, particularly if you have several sites in your account.
- Give the username and password to anyone who needs to review the site, such as a developer or a client.
- When a staging or development site becomes your live site, remember to switch protection off.
If you get stuck, our support team can help: log a ticket from the client area or start a live chat.