Google encountering 403

Website, Application, Performance
1

What is the name of the domain?

www.welovetheeighties.com

What is the issue you’re encountering

Googlebot Blocked with 403, No Access to Support Ticket Form

What steps have you taken to resolve the issue?

Hi, I’m on a paid Cloudflare plan, and I’ve confirmed that Googlebot is being blocked by Cloudflare, despite all correct configurations. I’m unable to open a support ticket—there’s no option in my dashboard, only tutorials, even though I’m a paying customer.

Here are the details:

Domain: https://www.welovetheeighties.com

URL Tested:
https://www.welovetheeighties.com/threads/the-mall-in-the-1980s-a-teenage-paradise.8017/

Ray ID: 939a000a0fda3913-IAD

User-Agent used: Googlebot

Test Result: 403 Forbidden

Origin Server Test: 200 OK when bypassing Cloudflare

Firewall Rules: I created a Skip rule for User Agent contains Googlebot, skipping Security Level, Browser Integrity Check, WAF Managed Rules, and Rate Limiting

Bot Fight Mode: Turned OFF

Despite all this, Cloudflare is still returning a 403 to Googlebot, which is preventing Google from indexing my forum content.

Can a Cloudflare staff member please help me:

Investigate why this 403 is still happening

Fix why I cannot access the Support Ticket form on a paid plan

Thank you.

2

Check your security event log for the reason the request is blocked…
https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/:zone/security/events

You can then use a WAF custom rule to allow the request as in this example…

3

This is from your dashboard

Screenshot 2025-05-02 at 1.50.49 PM
Screenshot 2025-05-02 at 1.50.49 PM267×273 4.98 KB

When I select Support, I am taken to the form to create a case

Screenshot 2025-05-02 at 1.52.18 PM
Screenshot 2025-05-02 at 1.52.18 PM596×486 19.2 KB

4

Thanks for the reply.

I’ve already checked the Security Events log. It shows this exact Googlebot request was blocked by Cloudflare:

Ray ID: 939a000a0fda3913-IAD

User Agent: Googlebot

Path: /threads/the-mall-in-the-1980s-a-teenage-paradise.8017/

Action: Block

Server response: 403 from Cloudflare

Here’s what I’ve already done:

Created a Custom WAF rule:

User Agent contains “Googlebot”

Action: Skip

Skipped components: Security Level, Browser Integrity Check, WAF Managed Rules, and Rate Limiting

Bot Fight Mode: OFF

Origin server returns 200 OK when bypassing Cloudflare

Firewall Events show that most Googlebot requests are being skipped, but some are still blocked by Cloudflare

Thanks!

5

I’ve confirmed that Cloudflare is still returning 403 Forbidden to legitimate Googlebot traffic despite all correct configuration.

Here’s proof from a test using the real Googlebot User-Agent:

URL tested:
https://www.welovetheeighties.com/threads/the-mall-in-the-1980s-a-teenage-paradise.8017/

Ray ID: 939aa1afaaf11729-IAD

User-Agent used:

less

CopyEdit

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)

Result: HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

My configuration:

  • Created a Custom WAF rule: User Agent contains "Googlebot"
    Action: Skip
    Skipped: Security Level, Browser Integrity Check, WAF Managed Rules, Rate Limiting
  • Moved rule to top
  • Bot Fight Mode OFF
  • Origin returns 200 OK when bypassing Cloudflare
  • Firewall Event logs confirm most Googlebot requests are skipped — but some still get blocked

Im baffled. Am I missing something? Thanks!

6

Without knowing the source IP it’s not possible to determine if this was a false positive. What rule triggered this WAF event?

7

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