WooCommerce Site Traffic Audit & Mitigation Plan

Job ID: 39987400

Budget: £100 – £150 GBP

## **Project Title: Web Traffic Analysis and Bot Mitigation Plan for Nexcess Hosting**

### **Overview**

My WooCommerce website, hosted on Nexcess, is experiencing sudden spikes in traffic that are triggering autoscaling. I suspect this is caused by bot or crawler traffic rather than genuine visitors. I need an experienced freelancer to analyse the traffic patterns, identify the root cause, and develop a practical plan to mitigate unnecessary scaling and bandwidth usage.

### **Objectives**

* Analyse web traffic data to determine the source and type of traffic (bots vs real users).
* Identify the specific triggers for Nexcess autoscaling events.
* Recommend and/or implement solutions to mitigate unwanted traffic without affecting legitimate users or SEO.

### **Scope of Work**

1. **Traffic Analysis**

* Review server logs (Nginx/Apache), access logs, and any analytics available (Google Analytics, Cloudflare, Nexcess reports, etc.).
* Identify IPs, countries, user agents, and patterns responsible for the traffic surges.
* Determine the proportion of real vs bot traffic.

2. **Hosting and Infrastructure Review**

* Assess how Nexcess autoscaling is configured and what triggers scaling events.
* Advise on whether the configuration or thresholds can be adjusted safely.

3. **Bot Detection and Prevention**

* Recommend suitable tools or firewall rules (e.g. Cloudflare, Wordfence, custom .htaccess or Nginx rules).
* Provide configuration guidance or implement blocking/throttling for bad bots, scrapers, or brute force attempts.

4. **Report and Action Plan**

* Provide a clear summary report of findings.
* Deliver an actionable mitigation plan, including suggested long-term monitoring methods.

### **Deliverables**

* Full written report (including traffic analysis and identified issues).
* List of proposed and implemented mitigation steps.
* Optional: Ongoing monitoring recommendations or setup.

### **Skills Required**

* Strong experience with **WordPress / WooCommerce** and **Nexcess or Liquid Web** environments.
* Proficiency in **server log analysis**, **bot detection**, **firewall configuration**, and **performance optimisation**.
* Familiarity with **Cloudflare**, **Fail2Ban**, **Wordfence**, or similar tools.
* Understanding of **autoscaling systems** and **load balancing**.

### **Additional Information**

* Website hosted on **Nexcess Cloud (WooCommerce plan)**.
* Access can be provided to Nexcess dashboard, logs, and Google Analytics.
* I’m looking for someone who can deliver both the **diagnosis** and a **practical fix or roadmap**.

### **Budget & Timeline**

* Budget: Open to proposals based on experience and scope.
* Timeline: Prefer completion within **7–10 days** from project start.

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