When Do You Need to Edit .htaccess File

Are you wondering how to edit your htaccess File in WordPress? When is the right time to edit my htaccess File? Well, you’ve come to the right place. The htaccess (Hypertext Access) file comes with your WordPress install. It is a robust configuration file that you can use to overrule the settings on your webserver. This helps to polish up your site’s performance and security. Using htaccess, you can edit a file with the correct commands.

Additionally, you can also enable or disable a few functionality functions to safeguard your website from hackers, spammers, and other external threats. With this in mind, let’s dive in and understand when it’s convenient to change your htaccess File.

Improve Site Speed

Is your site experiencing slow page load times? Using a few tweaks, you can shorten the time it takes for your pages to load. If you’re currently looking to hire SEO services, editing your htaccess File will help to improve your search ranking. Improving your site’s speed also helps to improve the user experience.

Many users get annoyed, waiting for a page that takes an extended period to load. This is a significant challenge, especially if a user is browsing many pages from the same site with the exact wait durations. If your sites load pages faster, it will improve user experience, impacting your signups and site’s sales.

Search Rankings

Altering your htaccess File can help to refine your site’s search ranking. However, this happens both directly and indirectly. According to a user’s search, search engine robots’ primary function is to crawl sites looking for the most relevant web content. If the robot can crawl your site faster without timing out, this will boost your ranking; Slower crawl results in low ranking since most of the relevant content will be left out. Big tech companies like Google consider speed vital, and they even use it in their algorithm.

Directory Browsing

Sometimes your site visitors can see a list of your site’s directories in the front-end. This happens when they enter your domain, followed by a directory into their browser’s address bar. WordPress has a set file structure, which means that a user can access your content, including your files or folders. This is not what any site owner wants because a hacker can easily access your files if the target file is visible. By editing your htaccess file, you can add a code that prevents access to directory browsing. This will help to keep your files and folders safe.

Hotlink Prevention

This happens when a visitor grabs the URL of a specific image and loads it into their site rather than uploading it to their server; this means they’re stealing your bandwidth. You can use a few methods to restrict this by using your htaccess File. You can add a few lines to your .htaccess File to prevent this from happening. Additionally, remember to protect your videos and images with file extensions like .jpg, .png, etc.

The .htaccess File is the right way to make various changes in a single location. However, you should proceed with caution as this is quite risky. You can attain the same results by using a plugin or altering a less critical file in many cases. For the inexperienced coders, we would highly advise that you refrain from doing this.