Definition
Hotlinking (or inline linking) occurs when a third-party site directly displays an image or resource hosted on your server using your URL. This consumes your bandwidth and server resources without any benefit to you. For SEO, hotlinking can slow down your site (consumed bandwidth), increase hosting costs, and in extreme cases, overload your server. Protection against hotlinking is configured via the .htaccess file (Apache), Nginx configuration, or CDN rules (Cloudflare Hotlink Protection). The technique involves checking the HTTP referer and blocking requests from unauthorized domains. Some sites replace the image with a warning image instead of blocking the request.
Key Points
- Hotlinking consumes your bandwidth for the benefit of third-party sites
- Protection is configured via .htaccess, Nginx, or CDN rules
- Always whitelist search engines (Googlebot) in anti-hotlink rules
Practical Examples
.htaccess protection
A photographer discovers their high-resolution images are hotlinked by dozens of sites. They add a .htaccess RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} rule to block external requests. Their hosting bill drops by 40%.
Cloudflare protection
A site enables Cloudflare Hotlink Protection with a single click. Images requested from third-party domains are automatically blocked, with no impact on search engines which are whitelisted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Indirectly. If hotlinking consumes enough bandwidth to slow your site, it impacts Core Web Vitals and crawling. Additionally, your images could appear in Google Images with another site's URL as the source page.
Analyze your server logs to find image requests with an external referer. Tools like web server DevTools or your CDN analytics can also show which domains are consuming your bandwidth.
Go Further with LemmiLink
Discover how LemmiLink can help you put these SEO concepts into practice.
Last updated: 2026-02-07