Webflow site not getting past firewalls

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1

My creative writing / consultancy website is made in / hosted by Webflow. It’s having an issue getting past some firewalls - particularly corporate networks, which are blocking it. [I know of at least 3 separate places where this is happening]. I’ve run all the various checks, followed the troubleshooting guides, but it still seems to be getting blocked.

Before I completely give up on Webflow and try another website platform, is there anything else I should try?

2

Hi Rachel, it depends on the error- it could be that your domain name is getting blocked due to blacklisting, or it could be something else.

If it’s something else- are you on the new DNS configuration?

Before the DNS change, I was able to mitigate some DNS issues by setting up a reverse proxy, which fixed some SSL problems certain VPN networks were having. You might be able to do the same with Cloudflare’s O2O configuration, but I wouldn’t have thought it necessary.

3

I would suggest at least sharing the site URL so some diagnostics can occur.

5

It keeps saying ‘An error occurred - you can’t post a link to that host’. But it’s rachel pattinson . co . uk.

6

Thanks. Yes, I’ve checked DNS configuration already and that all looks correct. Why would a domain name get blocked / blacklisted? It’s literally my name, and nothing controversial on the site.

7

Does the site comply with GDPR requirements? I would localize the fonts so Google fonts are not being loaded for one.

8

Yes, it does comply with GDPR requirements - but I’ll look at the fonts, thanks.

9

Some corporate firewalls, privacy tools, and compliance scanners flag sites that load Google Fonts remotely

10

I had a Webflow site that was getting blocked on some corporate networks. In my case it was caused by an external script flagged as risky. After removing it, the firewalls allowed the site through. It’s worth checking everything third-party on the page, including fonts, tracking, and embeds.

11

A few reasons I’ve seen;

  • Any custom scripts you’ve used, which are flagged, are a common cause. Sometimes these are false-positives for viruses, I’ve seen this a few times with Avira’s servers.
  • If someone owned the domain name before you and had flagged scripts or content
  • Registrar landing pages. If you buy a domain from e.g. Godaddy, and then it “sits” for awhile before you’re using it, Godaddy shows a landing page with ads. Those ad scripts can be very dodgy, and get your domain flagged.

Some approaches;

  • Setup Google Search Console
  • Buy a second domain, e.g. rachelwrites.co.uk add it to your site and make it the primary, and republish. See if your clients can access that. If you still see the problem, it’s something about the site, not the domain.

Google indicates it’s ok, but there are hundreds of blacklists out there, not only Google. You can do some deep diving and see if you can find your domain listed on any of them.

The main thing is that without some kind of error to work with, or some information on the firewalls, you have nothing to go on. Working blind is hard.

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