Does Cloudflare block IPs?

Yes, Cloudflare does block IPs. If an IP is doing too many requests in a short period of time, or if it's sending malicious requests, Cloudflare may block it. This helps to protect the site from being overloaded or attacked. If you're having trouble accessing a site that uses Cloudflare, it's possible that your IP has been blocked. You can try using a different IP, or you can contact Cloudflare support to have the block lifted. In most cases, though, it's best to just wait a little while and try again later. The block should clear itself automatically after a short period of time.

How to Whitelist Ahrefs IPs in Cloudflare

If you’re using Cloudflare for website security and performance, you’ll want to whitelist Ahrefs IPs to ensure that Ahrefs crawlers can continue to index your site correctly. In this article, we’ll show you how to do just that!

Table of Contents

How to Whitelist Ahrefs IPs in Cloudflare
Log in to Cloudflare admin
Open Firewall Settings
Create Firewall Rule
Enter Ahrefs IP ranges
Deploy Firewall Rule
FAQ

How to Whitelist Ahrefs IPs in Cloudflare

If you’re using Cloudflare to manage your website’s DNS, you may need to whitelist Ahrefs’ IP addresses to ensure Ahrefs crawlers can reach your site. To do this, simply add the following IP addresses to your Cloudflare account:

Log in to Cloudflare admin
Logging in to Cloudflare is simple and only takes a few seconds. To login, visit the website and enter your email address and password. Once you have logged in, you will be able to manage your account and settings, as well as view statistics and analytics for your website.
Open Firewall Settings
Firewall settings are found on the left-hand navigation under Security >> WAF

The default settings are designed to block the most common types of attacks, but you may need to adjust them if you’re seeing unusual traffic or suspicious activity on your site.
Create Firewall Rule
Click on the blue Create Firewall Rule button and give your rule a descriptive name

This firewall rule will be used to unblock specific IP addresses associated with Ahrefs.

Enter Ahrefs IP ranges

Under Field, select IP source address.

Operator should be set to Is In.

Value using the IP ranges below.

Then… heading set to Allow (changed from block).

—

Ahrefs IP ranges:

54.36.148.0/24
54.36.149.0/24

195.154.122.0/24
195.154.123.0/24
195.154.126.0/24
195.154.127.0/24

51.222.253.0/26

Note: Cloudflare does not accept /26 ranges. Please use the individual IPs below.

51.222.253.0
51.222.253.1
51.222.253.2
51.222.253.3
51.222.253.4
51.222.253.5
51.222.253.6
51.222.253.7
51.222.253.8
51.222.253.9
51.222.253.10
51.222.253.11
51.222.253.12
51.222.253.13
51.222.253.14
51.222.253.15
51.222.253.16
51.222.253.17
51.222.253.18
51.222.253.19
51.222.253.20
51.222.253.21
51.222.253.22
51.222.253.23
51.222.253.24
51.222.253.25
51.222.253.26
51.222.253.27
51.222.253.28
51.222.253.29
51.222.253.30
51.222.253.31
51.222.253.32
51.222.253.33
51.222.253.34
51.222.253.35
51.222.253.36
51.222.253.37
51.222.253.38
51.222.253.39
51.222.253.40
51.222.253.41
51.222.253.42
51.222.253.43
51.222.253.44
51.222.253.45
51.222.253.46
51.222.253.47
51.222.253.48
51.222.253.49
51.222.253.50
51.222.253.51
51.222.253.52
51.222.253.53
51.222.253.54
51.222.253.55
51.222.253.56
51.222.253.57
51.222.253.58
51.222.253.59
51.222.253.60
51.222.253.61
51.222.253.62
51.222.253.63

Ahrefs also uses the individual IPs in the code block below.

168.119.64.245

168.119.64.246

168.119.64.247

168.119.64.248

168.119.64.249

168.119.64.250

168.119.64.251

168.119.64.252

168.119.64.253

168.119.64.254

168.119.65.107

168.119.65.108

168.119.65.109

168.119.65.110

168.119.65.111

168.119.65.112

168.119.65.113

168.119.65.114

168.119.65.115

168.119.65.116

168.119.65.117

168.119.65.118

168.119.65.119

168.119.65.120

168.119.65.121

168.119.65.122

168.119.65.123

168.119.65.124

168.119.65.125

168.119.65.126

168.119.65.43

168.119.65.44

168.119.65.45

168.119.65.46

168.119.65.47

168.119.65.48

168.119.65.49

168.119.65.50

168.119.65.51

168.119.65.52

168.119.65.53

168.119.65.54

168.119.65.55

168.119.65.56

168.119.65.57

168.119.65.58

168.119.65.59

168.119.65.60

168.119.65.61

168.119.65.62

168.119.68.117

168.119.68.118

168.119.68.119

168.119.68.120

168.119.68.121

168.119.68.122

168.119.68.123

168.119.68.124

168.119.68.125

168.119.68.126

168.119.68.171

168.119.68.172

168.119.68.173

168.119.68.174

168.119.68.175

168.119.68.176

168.119.68.177

168.119.68.178

168.119.68.179

168.119.68.180

168.119.68.181

168.119.68.182

168.119.68.183

168.119.68.184

168.119.68.185

168.119.68.186

168.119.68.187

168.119.68.188

168.119.68.189

168.119.68.190

168.119.68.235

168.119.68.236

168.119.68.237

168.119.68.238

168.119.68.239

168.119.68.240

168.119.68.241

168.119.68.242

168.119.68.243

168.119.68.244

168.119.68.245

168.119.68.246

168.119.68.247

168.119.68.248

168.119.68.249

168.119.68.250

168.119.68.251

168.119.68.252

168.119.68.253

168.119.68.254

Deploy Firewall Rule
Once you’ve created your rule, click the Deploy Firewall Rule button to deploy it.

Once you’ve added these IP addresses to your Cloudflare account, you should be all set! Ahrefs crawlers should now be able to reach your site without any issues. Thanks for taking the time to whitelist Ahrefs!

FAQ

Does Cloudflare block IPs?
Yes, Cloudflare does block IPs. If an IP is doing too many requests in a short period of time, or if it’s sending malicious requests, Cloudflare may block it. This helps to protect the site from being overloaded or attacked. If you’re having trouble accessing a site that uses Cloudflare, it’s possible that your IP has been blocked. You can try using a different IP, or you can contact Cloudflare support to have the block lifted. In most cases, though, it’s best to just wait a little while and try again later. The block should clear itself automatically after a short period of time.

Published on: 2022-09-14
Updated on: 2023-01-02

Isaac Adams-Hands

Isaac Adams-Hands is the SEO Director at SEO North, a company that provides Search Engine Optimization services. As an SEO Professional, Isaac has considerable expertise in On-page SEO, Off-page SEO, and Technical SEO, which gives him a leg up against the competition.