Website blocking in Spain: how to maintain access.

01 /How a legitimate website gets blocked

During football broadcasts in Spain, internet providers block IP addresses at LaLiga's request to prevent access to unauthorised streams. One IP can be the entry to many different websites, particularly on a distribution network such as Cloudflare. The block also affects businesses with no connection to those streams.

That explains why a website might work over mobile data but fail on a fibre connection, or stop loading only during certain matches. The problem need not be its design, its hosting or the visitor's device.

Other countries use this type of blocking too. In Italy, Piracy Shield allows domains and IP addresses to be blocked and has recorded mistakes including a block affecting Google Drive. The legal context differs, but unrelated services can still be affected.

02 /How to tell whether your website is affected

The symptom depends on the provider. Some drop the connection and the page never loads. Others answer with a certificate that does not match your domain, so the browser warns that the connection is not private. On Digi connections a certificate issued to core1.netops.test has been documented.

That warning is correct: the certificate does not belong to your website. Do not ask customers to accept it. Before changing anything on the server, check these signs:

• The website loads on another provider, for example over another company's mobile data.
• The failure coincides with a match.
• The community monitor ¿Hay ahora fútbol? lists your domain's IP addresses as blocked. It is not an official list, but it supports the diagnosis.
• Your hosting shows no errors: blocked visits never reach your server.

Keep dated evidence: the provider, a screenshot of the warning and the certificate name. It helps with complaints and with explaining the outage to customers.

• Pablo González Troyano: the core1.netops.test certificate ↗
• ¿Hay ahora fútbol?: blocking monitor ↗

03 /My position is clear

I strongly oppose the indiscriminate blocking of websites driven by the football lobby. Protecting broadcast rights does not justify cutting off access to businesses, professionals and services unrelated to a broadcast.

Someone visiting a website to enquire about a service should not need technical knowledge, a VPN or a different internet provider. Continuity should be handled by the website's infrastructure.

04 /An alternative access route with the same address

This website keeps Cloudflare as its usual entry and has an alternative entry on Netlify for periods of blocking. We change the access route while keeping arturpuig.com and every page's address. Visitors are not sent to another domain or a waiting page.

The alternative entry retrieves the current website content and keeps a copy to serve the pages if the origin does not respond. The contact form and assistant communicate with the original service through a protected channel; their credentials are not placed in the browser.

When we use that route, a visible notice explains the situation and links to this guide.

05 /When the access route switches

The system checks access from several Spanish internet providers. If the usual entry fails repeatedly and the alternative responds, it automatically switches to Netlify. Returning to Cloudflare is automatic too, after checks show that access has remained stable. The switch follows conditions set in advance; a single measurement does not trigger it.

This runs in the cloud. The website keeps HTTPS on both its usual and alternative access routes.

06 /What this means for customers and search engines

You can keep browsing the same address and using the same links. Languages, canonical addresses and the files that help search engines discover pages are preserved. Switching the entry does not add a chain of redirects to reach the content.

This reduces the risk of losing visits through a blocked entry. It is not a promise of Google rankings or uninterrupted access: another IP could be blocked, the alternative network could have an outage, and the backup copy reflects its last publication. DNS changes can also take time to reach every connection.

For the other foundations of visibility, see what works in SEO and AI search.

07 /What to plan for your business website

Continuity needs to cover more than the home page. Forms, security, languages, links, assets and error pages must work too. There also needs to be a clear way back to the usual service.

If your website depends on enquiries, bookings or sales, these decisions belong in its maintenance plan. The right option depends on traffic and the services it uses; free plans have limits and do not replace a contractual availability guarantee.

When agreeing who will maintain that infrastructure, review what to ask a freelance developer or an agency.