Can blocking countries on your website damage your SEO rankings? Yes, it can.
One of our clients learned this the hard way. To stop repeated attacks, they set up country-wide restrictions. Unfortunately, this didn’t just block the attackers – it also blocked search engine crawlers. Very quickly, rankings dropped, traffic fell, and the website’s visibility suffered. Once the restrictions were lifted, the rankings started to return.
Here’s how we resolved it step by step:
- Step 1: Strengthened security
We updated the website’s security settings to deal with suspicious traffic without relying on country-wide blocks. This included tightening firewalls and adding smarter attack prevention tools. - Step 2: Removed the restrictions
The country-wide blocks were lifted, allowing search engines and genuine users full access again. - Step 3: Checked performance with SEMrush
We ran a full SEMrush audit to confirm the website was being indexed correctly and that rankings were recovering. - Step 4: Resubmitted sitemaps in Google Search Console
To speed up reindexing, we submitted fresh sitemaps and monitored crawl activity.
Within days, the website’s rankings began to stabilise, and normal traffic levels were restored.
The key lesson is clear: blocking entire countries might seem like a quick fix against attacks, but it can seriously harm your SEO if search engines can’t reach your site. Instead, focus on strong security practices that protect your site while keeping it open for both search engines and real users.
