What Is Hotlinking Bandwidth Theft And How To Protect Your Website Hosting

Hotlinking, or inline linking as it is sometimes called, is the act of one site using another's linked object. The result can sometimes be controversial and can allows for bandwidth theft. Bandwidth theft, if you have never heard of it, is quite a big deal in the website hosting community. See, the amount of bandwidth that you use directly correlates to what you pay per month for use (in most cases). Sites that hotlink to others can end up stealing some of that site's bandwidth, resulting in a reduction in traffic or an increase in costs. If you are concerned that your site is the target of bandwidth theft through hotlinking, then here are the next steps you should take.

First of all, contact customer service. Most reputable web hosting companies have representatives any time of the day or night that can deal directly with your problem, making an extended wait of a few days unnecessary to get the help that you need. The great thing about 24/7 customer service is that one need not be confined to the method of contact. You can send an email, open up an instant messenger chat session using the web hosting company's contact info, or make a toll free phone call. However you decide to handle it, it's always good knowing there is someone on the other end, who can help you deal with these problems.

After you have contacted customer service, listen to what your options are. The web hosting provider, with a little work, can usually determine how the ruse is going down, and they can respond by giving your site the protection that it needs. It never hurts to learn as much as you can about what hotlinking is, and about some of its most controversial uses. Some may even tell you to invest in a special piece of software that prevents it. While the more you know about the problem, the more likely you are to prevent it, you should still be mindful of legitimate linking opportunities. Just make sure that you stay within the confines of law.

Consulting with a trained professional about the issues that may arise with hotlinking can help you to avoid future occurrences. While you cannot always be guaranteed that you will be left alone, you can certainly take steps to make sure that the predators out there have a more difficult time finding you and causing problems.

Your site should be used for good. With any luck, millions will want to visit each day and see what you have to offer. But beware the practice of hotlinking, or you could end up spending yourself right out of business on stolen bandwidth from less reputable sources.

Choose a web hosting plan that is easy to manage and provides all the features you need. Webhostingpad offers a CPanel hosting plan that includes hotlinking protection. More webhostingpad reviews comparison can be located on this Web hosting pad reviews website.

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