On This Page: [hide]
Having problems with Shared Hosting Blacklisted IP? Read this guide! It contains all the necessary information to fix your Shard Hosting problems.
What Is the Shared Hosting Blacklisted IP Problem?
The shared hosting blacklisted IP problem occurs when one website on a shared server behaves badly or sends spam, leading to its IP address being blacklisted.
Because multiple websites share the same IP in shared hosting, even those not involved in the bad behaviour can get blocked or face email delivery issues, affecting their reputation and operations.
How to Fix Shared Hosting Blacklisted IP Problems?
In case you are having problems with Shared Hosting, we would strongly recommend that you implement a complete website fix immediately. The most professional solution is using Fixed.net to conduct a complete website fix, that includes:
- Quick malware removal.
- Errors and redirects fix.
- Complete site repair.
- White screen of death fix.
- Contact forms error fix.
- eCommerce checkout errors repair.
- Active maintenance and backup + prevention.
Having a shared hosting blacklisted IP is always a hot topic as it can happen to everybody no matter how tech savvy they are. The main reason for the issue to be happening might not even be the fault of the victim.
In such a situation it does not matter who is responsible, but to fix everything and fast. In case you have trouble with a shared hosting blacklisted IP, you have to be prepared to recognize it and to know what to do next.
Why Solving a Shared Hosting Blacklisted IP Issue Should Be Fast?
As you may know, it is common practice for Shared hosting providers to give the same static IP address to every website being run on their shared server.
In that regard, that business model may be flawed, especially if you have a neighbour website which is blacklisted often. With you having the same IP allocated to your website, it will also be blacklisted and blocked at the same time.
So, in other words, not only your website will be inaccessible, your emails, both incoming and outgoing could bounce shortly after, leaving you in the dark about the communication going on that information channel.
Apart from annoying, having a shared hosting blacklisted IP is a serious issue that can impact a website, blog or small business communication by hindering its functionality and activity.
Thus, when you see you have such a problem present, you have more than enough motivation to see How to Fix Shared Hosting Email Problems.
Another solid reasoning behind shared hosting IP blacklisting for happening is if your IP address or website is specifically targeted.
A type of a DoS attack could be in the works, trying to intentionally bring your service down.
Imagine thousands of spam emails being sent every second. Such a malicious action will prompt the addition of your website to blacklists along with the IP that is set for it.
Clients will not be able to reach the service you provide and you would not be able to reach them back. Even after removal of an IP from one blacklist, it could be staying on other blacklists for months, causing the issue to re-occur.
Are Proper SMTP Mail Server Settings Enough to Prevent a Blacklisted IP?
SMTP or otherwise known as the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol should be set properly on mail servers in order for clients to send and receive emails fast and without unwanted side effects such as IP addresses being blacklisted.
Shared hosting providers should work for their customers to be satisfied by building and keeping a good e-mail IP reputation. Delivery issues could always occur, but that should not happen frequently or be caused by the hosting service, which is in many cases responsible for proper e-mail delivery.
Setting up a cloud solution with an outbound STMP service that is designed with the purpose to manage hosting-specific SMTP e-mail traffic and settings is a good option, but not ideal.
Even those services will still detect SPAM, suspicious behaviour and bad users and block them instantly after the system algorithm detects them. That is to stop attacks and misusing of resources.
Due to the fact that you cannot physically check every single email message coming from the outbound SMTP server, you are left with large data pattern analysis to find the origin of the spam campaign.
Even specialist SMTP relay providers have blacklisting problems too. So SMTP settings are not enough to help, sometimes.
Getting a Dedicated IP Address to Solve Blacklisting
A solution for IP blacklisting prevention would be to get a Shared Hosting Plan With a Dedicated IP. Having a static IP connected only to your website alone is still not perfect, but will limit attacks and help companies track the issue sooner.
It is impossible to monitor all the different blacklists at scale, with automation. That is due to many of them not having a public facing API that can be queried to check if an IP address is in a blacklist.
The only time a host will become aware of such issues is when a customer forwards over a bounce-back, and at which point, the host can request delisting – ideally having figured out the source of the problem, first. It is chaotic and takes time, but it is how it works.
A way out of such a mess is to have a Dedicated Mailing IP address. This is possible in Shared Hosting environments as well, but may incur an extra fee for you to pay.
This means that if a fresh blacklisting is generated, it could only have come from a mail you sent, rather than any number of other people who are also using that IP address. Unless, a blacklist starts to list IP ranges and not individual IPs.
You could get a dedicated IP service from most shared hosting plans and you should seek that option out. If you already know it and are even using it – comment below with your experience and if you have ever been blacklisted.
Steps to Solve Shared Hosting IP Blacklisting Issues
If you have your IP blacklisted, then that IP is in at least one blacklist database. Usually you find out when your browser cannot reach any website and displays a message about the blacklisting.
If your website is blacklisted, then the website itself will be unreachable and nobody would be able to access it. In the next paragraph we will list the most common issues as to way one might get an IP blacklist.
Technical listings originate from mail-server configuration issues. Such issues are missing or incorrect reverse DNS records, banner greetings. Other ones are mail servers using IP addresses that are deemed suspicious.
Policy listings include country bans or ISPs not honoring unsubscribe requests. Listings based on evidence have database operators receiving evidence for an IP address involved in sending unsolicited emails.
Here is what to do, by following the list below:
- Scan your computer, other devices on the Network and website for Malware
- See if you need to patch or update your Operating System and Network-related programs
- Configure routers securely if you have any
- Use stronger passwords if you find that your account is hacked
- Call your Internet Service Provider and Hosting Provider for additional information
The above list summs up the actions you need to perform to alieviate your website from being blacklisted.
Conclusion
Keep in mind – you can get off some blacklists on your own, but if the issue persists, you will end up being blacklisted again, which will make it extremely hard for you to remove a secondary blacklist. If you got blacklisted, know that there is a reason behind it and it is done to find the origin of a serious attack.
As said above in the article, you should act fast upon finding your website is inaccessible because of a Shared Hosting Blacklisted IP address. Stay vigilant and do frequent checks on your IP, and website IP addresses to be always one step ahead.