How to limit Public access to a Page or Post

The Pages and Posts on your website can be Public, Private or Password Protected.

  • PUBLIC means that anyone visiting your website can view the front end of the Page or Post. This is the default setting.
  • PRIVATE means that only site Administrators and Editors can view the front end of the Page or Post.
  • PASSWORD PROTECTED means that only those with the password can view the Page or Post.

A Private or Password Protected Page or Post and it’s media will still be indexed by Google and accessible in the Google search results. Please see below for How to disallow search engines from showing the Page or Post in the search results.

Make a New Page or Post or Edit an existing Page or Post.

From the Page and Post Editor

Open the Settings Panel if it isn’t open already:

Toggle the Document Settings and Block Settings panel on.

  • Click the Document heading at the top of the panel to access the Page or Post settings.
  • Click Public and choose:
    • Private to only allow other website administrator and editors to access the front end of the Page or Post.
    • or Password Protected to only allow people with the Password to access the front end of the Page or Post. When Password Protected is chosen, a box will appear for you to enter a password. Please make this a secure password.

Disallow the search engines such as Google from indexing the Page or Post (optional)

The Yoast SEO settings control various aspects of the search engine optimization for each Page or Post. To learn more about Yoast SEO, follow the instructions here.

  • Scroll to the Yoast SEO settings, below the main content for the Page or Post.
  • Click the icon.
  • Change the settings as desired
    • Choose to Allow search engines to show the Post (or Page) in search results?
    • Choose to Allow search engines follow links on the Post (or Page)?
    • We recommend leavin the other settings as is

It’s not recommended to include personal or financial information on a Private or Password Protected Page or Post.

Add content to the page or post as desired

  • Click to add a new “Block” (section) of content

See the full list of WordPress Instructions here

What will my website visitors see in the front end on a Password Protected Page or Post?

UPDATE or PUBLISH the Page or Post when done. or

The following message and be shown with a box to input the Password.

Protected: Page Name
This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Once the password is entered the Page or Post content will be shown.