Why This Upwork Job Posting Is a Nightmare — And Why Freelancers Should Think Twice Before Applying

Freelancers on Upwork are used to strange requests, overly ambitious clients, and projects with unclear goals. But every now and then a job posting appears that should set off every alarm bell you have.

Recently, a client posted a "bot-blocking expert" job for a Squarespace/Strato website — and it's the perfect example of a project you should NOT apply for unless you enjoy pain, scope creep, and impossible expectations.

Here's why.

The actual Upwork job posting with unrealistic bot-blocking requirements

1. The Client Wants Something Technically Impossible

The core requirement of the project is:

"Block all SEO tools, scrapers, content intelligence bots, headless browsers, crawlers, rank trackers, and scraping libraries — but don't affect normal users or Google."

This includes:

• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• SISTRIX
• Surfer SEO
• Screaming Frog
• Sitebulb
• Scrapy
• Puppeteer
• Selenium
• BeautifulSoup
• Diffbot
• Dozens more…
• AND any new ones that appear monthly

Here's the technical reality:

You cannot fully block a determined scraper.
If someone wants your content, they will:

• Randomize their User-Agent
• Rotate residential IPs
• Load the site with Playwright (which looks like a normal browser)
• Screenshot pages
• Use AI crawlers that the client wants to allow

The moment your content is public, you cannot prevent scraping — only make it more expensive or inconvenient.

Yet the client expects perfect protection.
That's a recipe for disappointment and blame.

2. The Tech Stack Is the Worst Fit for This Type of Work

The client is on:

• Squarespace Business Plan
• Strato DNS

Both are inflexible, restrictive, and not designed for WAF-level security.

Squarespace doesn't allow:

• Server configs
• Custom firewall rules
• Bot management logic
• Reverse proxy setups

Strato DNS is known for:

• Slow propagation
• Limited features
• Minimal transparency

They want an enterprise WAF solution on a no-control platform.

You'll spend half the project fighting their hosting limitations.

3. The Client Wants Confidential Proof You Should Never Give

They require freelancers to submit:

"Screenshots of your actual Cloudflare or WAF dashboard showing bot-blocking rules and analytics."

This is a major red flag.

No ethical freelancer shares real client dashboards — even blurred.

On top of that, they want:

• Specific project names
• A list of blocked SEO tools
• A reference they can contact

This level of pre-sale work and disclosure is far beyond normal Upwork expectations.

4. They Don't Understand That Their Goal Is Unachievable

Their fear is:

"Competitors are stealing our keywords and content."

But they run a public website with 50+ articles.

Anyone can:

• Read the articles
• Copy/paste
• Screenshot
• Use any of hundreds of generic scraper tools
• Let AI analyze the site indirectly
• Use residential-proxy scrapers

Blocking Ahrefs does NOT stop competitors from accessing content.
It just stops Ahrefs — which is not the real threat.

This misunderstanding guarantees the freelancer gets blamed when:

• Scraping still happens
• Rankings shift
• Competitors continue their strategy
• SEO doesn't magically improve

The client wants you to solve a problem that cannot be solved.

5. They Expect Zero Downtime, Full Control, and Immediate Results

They demand:

• Implementation in 3–4 days
• Max 1 hour downtime
• Full bot analytics dashboard
• Search Console must show zero issues
• Training + documentation
• Post-launch fine-tuning
• Ongoing rule adjustments

All for a one-off fixed-price job.

This is essentially asking for a 7-day project with a 6-month responsibility scope.

That's not a project…
That's a trap.

6. They Ask You to Make Guarantees You Should Never Make

Their required proposal opening line:

"I can block [number] bots with [estimated %] downtime."

This forces freelancers to:

• Make promises before seeing the infrastructure
• Commit to a specific downtime target
• Quantify the number of bots (which is infinite)

This is how freelancers get burned later:

• "You said you'd block 50 bots — we found 3 tools still crawling us."
• "You guaranteed X% uptime — Squarespace went down, and we blame you."
• "You promised detection of SISTRIX — now another crawler slipped through."

It's a legal and reputational risk.

7. Small Site, Massive Expectations — The ROI Doesn't Exist

This site has:

• ~1,000 visitors/month
• 50 articles
• No advanced backend
• A low-traffic footprint

But the client expects:

• Enterprise-grade WAF
• Perfect bot blocking
• Deep analytics
• Continuous adaptation to new bots
• Zero impact on SEO
• Minimal downtime
• Weekly reporting

The work required vs. site size = bad economics for any freelancer.

This will not be a $2,000–$4,000 project.
It will feel like a $15,000 enterprise engagement compressed into a week.

8. Clear Signs of a Future Blame Game

Everything about the job description signals a future client who may say:

• "SEO dropped — it must be your firewall rules."
• "New bot appeared — why didn't you block it automatically?"
• "Competitors can still access our site — fix it!"
• "Google indexed fewer pages — you caused it."
• "Cloudflare broke something — restore it NOW!"

The mismatch between their expectations and reality guarantees conflict.

Final Verdict: Do Not Apply

This is the type of Upwork job that:

• Sounds prestigious
• Looks interesting
• Seems doable at first glance
• But is functionally impossible, poorly scoped, and high-risk

The client:

• Wants to defeat the laws of the internet
• Doesn't understand scraping reality
• Requires confidential proof
• Expects enterprise solutions on Squarespace
• Demands guarantees no sane freelancer gives
• Will almost certainly be unhappy no matter what you deliver

If you value your:

• Time
• Reputation
• Stress levels
• Long-term Upwork score

…skip this one.