: Keeping files private on the internet (.htaccess password or software/php/wordpress password) I was asked a while ago to setup a server such that only authenticated users can access files. It

@Angie530

Take a look at mod_access - from your description of what you need, an IP whitelist should be sufficient.

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@Kristi941

The robots.txt method won't offer you any real security as not only do bots not have to honor it, but it's still possible that content gets indexed anyway which has been shown to happen. Plus if someone knows where the content is robots.txt does nothing to stop someone from accessing that content.

Basic Authentication, which is what .htpasswd is, will keep bots and anyone you don't want in, out. But it is clunky and if you access the content from a public computer you better make sure you close the browser or else anyone can access it without logging back in.

Password protected posts like in Wordpress require you creating a login and authentication system of your own. That is very flexible but obviously requires more work on your end to set up.

Basic authentication will do exactly what you need and fast. If you're the only person trying to access the files it probably is the best way to go. But if you ever plan on expanding who can access that content you want to make a basic login system for yourself and there are lots of tutorials available for doing it (at least in PHP). Definitely use the robots.txt file and I would also place a .htaccess file that uses the x-robots-tag to also block bots as it is more effective:

Header set X-Robots-Tag: noindex

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