How to block countries from your Squarespace website.
There are several reasons why you might want to block access to your Squarespace website from certain countries. Maybe your services are tailored to a specific region, or you want to protect your site from unwanted traffic, hacking attempts, or DDoS attacks.
While Squarespace doesn’t offer built-in country-blocking features, you can still accomplish this by using a third-party service like Cloudflare. This guide will walk you through how to use Cloudflare to restrict access to your site by country.
Table of Contents
Why You Might Want to Block Country-Level Access
Some common motivations include:
Your business operates only within one country
You’re receiving malicious traffic from certain regions
You want to improve site performance by limiting traffic sources
You have licensing or legal restrictions based on geography
Step-by-Step: Block Countries Using Cloudflare
1. Create a Free Cloudflare Account and Connect Your Site
Go to Cloudflare.com and sign up for a free account. You’ll need to add your website and verify ownership.
Cloudflare will give you two nameservers to use — updating these is required to route your domain through Cloudflare’s network.
If Your Domain is Registered on Squarespace:
In the Home Menu, go to Settings > Domains.
Select your domain.
Click Advanced Settings.
Click Nameservers (top right).
Choose Use Custom Nameservers and paste the two Cloudflare nameservers provided.
If Your Domain is Registered Elsewhere (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap):
Log in to your registrar and update the domain’s nameservers using the ones from Cloudflare. Look for DNS or Nameserver settings in your provider's dashboard.
2. Wait for DNS to Propagate
Cloudflare will verify your nameserver change within a few minutes to a few hours. You’ll receive confirmation in your Cloudflare dashboard once it’s active.
3. Block Countries Using Cloudflare's Firewall Rules
Once setup is complete:
In your Cloudflare dashboard, go to the Security tab.
Select WAF (Web Application Firewall), then click Create Firewall Rule.
Use the dropdown to choose Country as a field.
Select the countries you want to block.
Choose the "Block" action, then save the rule.
Alternatively, you can go to the IP Access Rules section (also under Security > WAF) and enter:
Individual IP addresses
IP ranges
Entire countries
This will effectively prevent users from selected locations from loading your website.
Key Takeaways
Squarespace doesn’t support country blocking natively — you need third-party tools.
Cloudflare offers free DNS-level protection and firewall rules for this purpose.
You’ll need to change your domain’s nameservers to point to Cloudflare.
You can block entire countries or specific IP addresses using Cloudflare’s Firewall Rules.
FAQs
Can I block countries directly from within Squarespace?
No — Squarespace doesn’t have built-in features for country or IP blocking. You’ll need a third-party solution like Cloudflare.
Is Cloudflare free to use?
Yes, Cloudflare has a free plan that includes basic firewall and DNS management features, including country blocking.
Will blocking countries affect my site speed?
In most cases, it can improve site performance by reducing unwanted or irrelevant traffic.
Can I block just one country?
Yes, Cloudflare allows you to block individual countries, IP addresses, or ranges.
What if I only want to block certain pages or sections?
You can create conditional firewall rules in Cloudflare based on URLs or request patterns — this requires more advanced configuration.
Conclusion
Blocking specific countries from accessing your Squarespace website isn't a built-in feature of the platform, but it can be achieved through third-party tools and services. By using methods such as IP geolocation services, firewall rules via a content delivery network (like Cloudflare), or embedding JavaScript-based geo-blocking scripts, you can effectively restrict traffic from selected regions. While these approaches offer varying levels of control and complexity, it's important to carefully consider your goals—whether it's for security, legal compliance, or content licensing. Ultimately, for most users, integrating a trusted external service is the most efficient and scalable way to manage geographic restrictions on a Squarespace site.
