Botcrawl Bot Blocker: Complete Feature Guide

Botcrawl Bot Blocker is a professional WordPress security plugin that gives you complete visibility and control over automated traffic hitting your site. It is a standalone plugin and does not require Sera Core, though it integrates cleanly with the Sera ecosystem.

Live Traffic Monitor

The Live Traffic Monitor is the centerpiece of Botcrawl Bot Blocker:

Real-time geo-map: Watch bot requests appear on an interactive world map as they happen
Request log: Every blocked request is logged with IP address, user agent, country, and detection reason
Threat summary: Cards showing counts of blocked bots, fake trusted bots, and country-blocked requests
Color-coded severity: Requests are color-coded by threat category for quick scanning Access the monitor from Sera > Bot Blocker > Live Monitor.

Bot Registry

The Pro registry covers 603+ known bots across six categories:

Category	Description
Search engine crawlers	Legitimate crawlers from Google, Bing, and others, verified via DNS
AI scrapers	Bots collecting training data for large language models
Vulnerability scanners	Automated tools probing for security weaknesses
Content scrapers	Bots copying your content for republication
Spam bots	Comment and form spam automation
Fake trusted bots	Bots claiming to be Googlebot or Bingbot but failing DNS verification
The registry is updated with each plugin release. You can view the full list from Sera > Bot Blocker > Registry.

Detection Methods

Botcrawl Bot Blocker uses three layers of detection:

User Agent Matching

Compares incoming request user agents against the registry. This catches the majority of known bots quickly and with minimal overhead.

DNS Reverse-Lookup Verification

For bots claiming to be trusted crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot, and others), Botcrawl Bot Blocker performs a DNS reverse lookup to verify the claim:

The IP address is reverse-resolved to a hostname
The hostname is forward-resolved back to an IP
If the IPs do not match, the bot is flagged as a fake trusted bot This prevents scrapers from bypassing your rules by spoofing a Googlebot user agent.

Behavioral Heuristics

Detects unusual request patterns that suggest automated traffic:

Abnormally high request frequency from a single IP
Requests to non-existent paths (404 probing)
Missing or malformed HTTP headers

Country-Level Blocking

Block all traffic from specific countries:

Go to Sera > Bot Blocker > Country Blocking
Select countries to block from the list
Save settings Country blocking uses a GeoIP database that is updated automatically. Blocked requests receive a configurable response (403, 404, or redirect).

Fake Bot Auto-Escalation

When a bot claims to be a trusted crawler but fails DNS verification, Botcrawl Bot Blocker automatically escalates the block:

The IP is added to a temporary block list
The block duration is configurable (default: 24 hours)
Repeated offenses extend the block duration
All escalations are logged with the verification failure reason

Weekly Email Digest

Receive a weekly summary of blocked traffic:

Total requests blocked
Top blocked IPs and user agents
Country breakdown
Fake bot detections Configure the digest from Sera > Bot Blocker > Notifications.

Log Export

Export your bot traffic logs for external analysis:

CSV format for import into Excel, Google Sheets, or any analytics tool
JSON format for use with custom scripts or data pipelines
Date range selection for exporting logs from a specific period
Filter by category to export only scanner logs or only AI scraper logs Access export from Sera > Bot Blocker > Logs > Export.

Custom Block Page

Customize the page shown to blocked bots:

Set a custom title and message
Choose the HTTP response code (403 recommended)
Add your own CSS for branding
Optionally redirect to a specific URL instead of showing a block page Configure from Sera > Bot Blocker > Settings > Block Page.

License Key System

Botcrawl Bot Blocker uses a license key to activate Pro features:

Purchase Botcrawl Bot Blocker from sera.guru
Go to Sera > Bot Blocker > License
Enter your license key
Pro features activate immediately License status is verified against sera.guru with a 24-hour local cache, so there is no performance impact on live requests.

Multisite Support

Botcrawl Bot Blocker supports WordPress multisite networks:

Network-level activation applies settings to all subsites
Per-site overrides allow individual sites to customize their settings
The network admin can view combined traffic logs across all sites

GDPR Compliance

Log retention is configurable. Set how long IP addresses are stored
Logs can be purged on demand from the settings page
No data is sent to external servers except for license verification

Sera Core Integration (Optional)

If Sera Core is installed, Botcrawl Bot Blocker will register itself in the Hub Registry, send threat alerts to the Alert Center, and appear in the Sera Dashboard alongside your other plugins. This integration is optional. Botcrawl Bot Blocker works as a standalone plugin.