403 Errors for Facebook Ad Clicks
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Hello LiteSpeed Support Team,
I’m reaching out about an issue where roughly half of the clicks from my Facebook ads are resulting in 403 errors in my logs. This issue occurs consistently with specific fbclid parameters; for example, a single fbclid ID linked to a Facebook ad may attempt to load up to 80 pages, but about 40 of those requests result in 403 errors. As a result, every user clicking on my ads encounters incomplete loading of the site, which prevents a proper view of the website and affects the campaign’s effectiveness. These errors only occur when users click on paid Facebook advertisements to access my site. Organic traffic from Facebook or other sources doesn’t seem to have this problem, so it appears isolated to ad-driven clicks.
Here are some examples of the error logs for reference:
1.) fbclid Parameter:
URLs containing the fbclid parameter from Facebook ad links frequently result in 403 errors.
2.) LiteSpeed Cache File URLs:
Some URLs requested by Facebook’s crawler (facebookexternalhit/1.1) refer to cached files generated by LiteSpeed, such as CSS or JavaScript files with parameters like ?ver=.
3.) Social Media Icons and Theme Assets:
Requests for theme assets and icons (e.g., social media icons) also trigger 403 errors when accessed by Facebook’s crawler.I noticed the fbclid parameter is listed in the “Drop Query String” settings within LiteSpeed Cache, and I’m considering removing it to see if it resolves the issue. However, I’m unsure if this is the best approach or if the problem might stem from a different setting. Since my ad campaign just ended, I’d like to resolve this before running another campaign to ensure users who click my ads can reach the site successfully.
Could you please advise on whether removing fbclid from the query string list might help, or if there are other settings I should review?
Thank you very much for your assistance and guidance on this issue.
Best regards
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Hello @qtwrk,
I wanted to inform you that my hosting provider actually has a request limit in place for requests originating from “facebookexternalhit.” However, ad clicks should not come from “facebookexternalhit” but rather should show the device information in the log files from the users who clicked on the ad.
Since Facebook shows in the insights that people have clicked on my ad, yet I could not identify these in the log files, I assumed the ad clicks might be coming from “facebookexternalhit.”
In any case, I’ll need to keep monitoring this since the supposed Facebook clicks are missing in the log files. It’s also possible that Facebook might not be providing accurate data and these clicks didn’t actually happen.
I don’t know for sure, and further observation is needed. Anyway, I think it can be ruled out that it has anything to do with your plugin, and you were right in thinking that there is indeed a request limit in place.
Thank you and best regards
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