Bots aren’t visible at first glance. Their effects are. If PrestaShop runs slowly, product pages take several seconds to load or 500 errors appear, one source of the problem may be excessive automated traffic.
You’re told about „unusual traffic” or an exceeded limit, but you still don’t know what exactly happened.
The panel shows tens of thousands of visits, but this traffic isn’t visible in Analytics or in orders.
Product pages take several or a dozen seconds to load, 500 errors appear or the checkout stops responding.
More and more IP addresses, countries or traffic sources are blocked, but the problem comes back after a while.
Do a simple test. It won’t give you a definite answer, but it can show that it’s worth looking deeper.
See how big the difference is between the number of visits in the panel and the GA4 data.
A very large difference doesn’t automatically mean a „bot attack”. It may be a sign that some of the traffic comes from automated systems and that it’s worth checking the server logs.
It may be a sign that some of the traffic is generated by automated systems. The difference alone, however, doesn't tell you whether this traffic harms the store or whether the current protection is enough. If you're seeing this problem in your store, let's talk about how it's protected and monitored today.
Google, price comparison sites or AI bots can be valuable to a store. The problem is traffic that uses up resources, copies your offer or destabilises the store. Before you start thinking about how to block bots in your store, it’s worth establishing which ones really do harm.
| What it does in the store | Let it into the store? | |
|---|---|---|
|
shows the store in search results
|
yes, it should have access to the store
|
|
| Price comparison sites |
can bring in sales
|
yes
|
| AI bots |
can index your offer and increase brand visibility
|
yes
|
| Harmful automated systems |
generate unnecessary load, scrape content in bulk or destabilise the store
|
no, this traffic is worth limiting
|
Blocking blindly can also cost you sales. These scenarios have come up in conversations with PrestaShop store owners.
The problem disappears along with the store.
And a moment later it turns out that, along with the bots, you’ve cut off customers from markets where you want to sell.
The blog, integrations, language versions. And the bots come back from other addresses.
Blocking alone is not enough. Effective protection requires continuous traffic monitoring, rules tailored to the specific store and a response when the situation changes.
Automated traffic changes all the time. New addresses, new sources, different request patterns. That’s why a single block or a one-off rule setup isn’t enough.
Hosting protects the server, but it doesn’t look after the store.
Let's talk about how your store is protected today and who responds when something happens.
Don’t block blindly. First check the server logs to see which traffic sources are really putting a load on the store and which are valuable, such as Google or price comparison sites. Only then can you decide what to restrict without cutting off customers along with the bots.
By combining traffic protection with monitoring of the infrastructure and the store’s operation, and a team response. The goal isn’t to block all automated traffic, but to restrict the traffic that harms the store while keeping access for valuable robots.
Not always. Cloudflare can stay, but the fact that it’s connected doesn’t tell you what traffic reaches the store or whether the current rules solve the problem.
We talk about what is happening in the store, what its infrastructure and protection look like today and who responds to problems. On that basis we can propose how to approach protecting your store.
The free consultation doesn’t require any changes to the store. If we talk about ongoing protection, monitoring and response, we also agree infrastructure matters.
To start, compare the number of visits in the PrestaShop panel with the number of users or sessions in GA4 for the same day. A large difference may be a sign that some traffic comes from automated systems. Only server logs give a definite answer, because they show where requests come from and how often they repeat.
It’s an automated program that sends requests to the store without behaving like a typical user. Some bots are useful, such as Google’s or price comparison sites’ robots. Others only put a load on the server, for example by scraping the store’s content in bulk or sending excessive requests.
Some automated traffic may not trigger the Analytics script, so it doesn’t appear in GA4 reports, even though the server still has to handle it. The difference can also have other causes, for example refused cookie consent, so on its own it doesn’t prove that bots are to blame. It is, however, a good reason to check the logs.
They can be one of the causes. A large number of automated requests uses up server resources and lengthens the store’s response time, and under overload this can end in 500 errors. The same error can, however, come from code, modules or server configuration, which is why we establish the cause from the logs.
Yes, and that’s exactly the point. Google should have access to the store, as should price comparison sites that can bring in sales. First we establish which traffic sources are valuable and which put an unnecessary load on the store. Only the latter are worth restricting.
Not automatically, because AI bots can index your offer and increase brand visibility. The problem is automated systems that generate unnecessary load, scrape content in bulk or destabilise the store, and those are the ones worth restricting.
The hosting company does it to protect the server. When traffic exceeds a limit or looks unusual, the host may restrict or shut down the store. The problem then disappears along with the store, while its cause remains unknown. Server logs make it possible to establish what caused the overload.
Server logs tell you the most, because they show where requests come from, how often they repeat, which URLs put a load on the store and what looks like a real user. If the source of the problem turns out to be the store’s code or configuration, the next step may be a PrestaShop technical audit. When the store is slow for reasons other than bots, the answer may be PrestaShop speed optimisation.
Let’s talk about what’s happening in your store and how it’s protected today. During a free consultation we’ll learn about the situation and show you how we can approach it.
We'll talk about the problem and how we can help your store.
