How to fix CDN blocking after Google’s 2025 IP update

After Google’s February 4, 2025 IP update, thousands of websites are experiencing significant traffic drops. If your CDN is blocking Google’s new crawler IPs, here’s exactly how to diagnose and fix the issue, based on real solutions that have worked for affected sites.

Confirm it’s actually a traffic drop

Before making any changes, access your Google Search Console to look for a sharp decline in crawl rates starting from February 4th.

In GSC, navigate to Settings > Crawl Stats. In the report:

• Set date range to “Last 3 months”
• Look at the graph showing “Crawl requests”
• Find February 4th, 2025 on the timeline

After seeing the data, make a comparison between:

• Before February 4th: Note the normal crawl numbers
• After February 4th: Check for significant drops

If your crawl rate has dropped by 30% or more and you’re seeing increased 403 or 401 errors from Googlebot IPs, you’re likely affected.

How to fix CDN blocking issues due to Google’s update

When your CDN blocks Google’s new crawler IPs, you need to act quickly to prevent traffic loss. Here are some proven solutions. Each solution includes exact steps you can follow to fix the issue. Note that some solutions require technical knowledge so it’s better consulting with experts in this field.

Getting CDN provider to fix

Contact your CDN’s support with this specific information:

“Our site is experiencing blocked Googlebot access following the February 4th, 2025 IP range update. Please verify and implement the latest IP ranges from both googlebot.json and goog.json files. Current symptoms include [list your specific issues].”

For faster resolution, include:

• Your recent crawl rate drops (percentage)
• Examples of blocked Googlebot IPs from your logs
• Timestamps of when the issue started
• Your account’s technical contact information

Once the provider begins working on the issue, request hourly updates. Ask them to specifically confirm:

• When they’ve verified the IP ranges
• When they’ve implemented the updates
• When they’ve tested the new configuration

Update CDN’s Googlebot rules

This is the fastest fix that works for most websites.

First, open your CDN dashboard and find the security settings.

For Cloudflare users, click on ‘Security’ then ‘WAF.’ For Akamai, go to ‘Security Controls.’ Now create a new rule specifically for Googlebot.

In the rule creation page, name it “Googlebot Access.” Copy this exact configuration:

(http.user_agent contains "Googlebot") and
(ip.src in {34.100.0.0/16 35.191.0.0/16 130.211.0.0/22})

Set the rule action to “Allow” and save it. Now move this rule to the top of your rule list to ensure it takes priority.

Test the configuration by checking your logs for Googlebot access within the next hour.

Set up proper IP verification

When simple rules aren’t enough, implement proper IP verification. You can start by accessing your server through SSH or your control panel then create a new file called ‘verify-googlebot.php’ in your root directory.

Add this verification code:

function verifyGooglebot($ip) {
    $hostname = gethostbyaddr($ip);
    if (strpos($hostname, 'googlebot.com') !== false) {
        $reverse_ip = gethostbyname($hostname);
        return $ip === $reverse_ip;
    }
    return false;
}

Now modify your CDN rules to call this verification script. In your CDN’s custom rules section, add a condition that checks both the IP and runs this verification before allowing access.

Implement custom rate limits

Sometimes Googlebot gets caught in generic rate limiting.

Access your CDN’s rate limiting settings. For Nginx users, open your configuration file and add these specific rate limits:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=googlebotzone:10m rate=10r/s;

server {
    location / {
        if ($http_user_agent ~* "googlebot") {
            limit_req zone=googlebotzone burst=20 nodelay;
        }
    }
}

Save this configuration and reload your server and monitor your access logs for the next hour to ensure Googlebot requests are processing correctly.

Solution 4: Implement full bot validation

For complete protection, set up full bot validation. Start by creating a new file called ‘bot-validator.php’:

function validateBot($ip, $userAgent) {
    // Step 1: Check IP ranges
    $googleIPs = json_decode(file_get_contents('https://developers.google.com/search/apis/ipranges/googlebot.json'));

    // Step 2: Verify reverse DNS
    $hostname = gethostbyaddr($ip);

    // Step 3: Forward DNS check
    $forward_ip = gethostbyname($hostname);

    return ($ip === $forward_ip && strpos($hostname, 'googlebot.com') !== false);
}

Add this to your server’s processing pipeline and configure your CDN to call this validation before processing any bot requests.

Solution 5: Emergency Direct Access

If nothing else works, create a direct access path for Googlebot. In your CDN dashboard, create a new page rule or configuration:

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "googlebot" google_bot
Allow from env=google_bot

This should only be used temporarily while implementing a permanent solution.

After implementing any of these solutions, verify success by watching your server logs. Look for these specific patterns:

tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log | grep Googlebot

You should see successful 200 responses instead of 403 errors and crawl rates should begin recovering within 48-72 hours.

How to verify and monitor the fix

After implementing any solution, proper verification and monitoring are crucial. Here’s exactly how to verify Googlebot access and track your site’s recovery.

Verifying legitimate Googlebot traffic

First, access Google’s official verification tool.

Copy the current IP ranges to a text file for reference.

Next, open your server’s terminal and run this command to check your access logs:

grep "Googlebot" /var/log/nginx/access.log | tail -n 50

For each IP showing Googlebot activity, perform a reverse DNS lookup:

host 66.249.66.1

The response should show googlebot.com in the hostname. If it doesn’t, that IP is likely a fake Googlebot.

Compare these IPs against Google’s official list:

curl -s https://developers.google.com/search/apis/ipranges/googlebot.json | jq '.prefixes[].ipv4Prefix'

Tracking your site’s recovery

Open Google Search Console and navigate to Settings > Crawl Stats. Create a daily log with these metrics:

Day 1-3:

• Hourly crawl attempts
• Response codes (200s vs 403s)
• Average server response time

Days 4-7:

• Daily crawl rate compared to pre-issue levels
• Percentage of successful crawls
• Number of indexed pages

Days 8-30:

• Weekly crawl rate trends
• Organic traffic levels
• Index coverage status

If after 72 hours you don’t see improvement, gather this data:

1. Export your crawl stats from Search Console
2. Collect your server logs showing continued blocks
3. Document all changes implemented so far

Contact your CDN’s technical support with:

Subject: Urgent Escalation - Googlebot Access Issues Persisting
Details:
- Implementation date: [Date]
- Solutions tried: [List them]
- Current crawl rate: [Number]
- Pre-issue crawl rate: [Number]
- Attached: [Your exported data]

How to know you fix the issue correctly

Your fix is working when you see:

• Crawl rates returning to 70%+ of normal within 72 hours
• Server response times under 200ms
• 403/401 errors dropping to less than 1% of Googlebot requests
• Steady increase in indexed pages

Note for website owners: Our recommendations require technical understanding, so if you are not sure, work with an experienced developer or experts to solve the issue. Don’t try to work on your own without knowing what’s going on, as it can damage your site.