htaccess Overview

This walks you through what your htaccess should look like in a WordPress Installation. I am a minimalist and believe you shouldn't be using a ton of plugins that slow down your install when most of what you are looking to accomplish can be achieved with this file. Therefore, this htaccess will contain bad bot blocker, security optimizations, force https, and a variety of other optimizations. This will save you from installing about 5-10 plugins that would slow down your website.
Original Article

The .htaccess file to rule them all

Basic Wordpress part

# BEGIN WordPress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

</IfModule>
END WordPress
Secure the WordPress install


# Allow mod_rewrite in htaccess

Options +FollowSymLinks
Disable directory browsing
Options All -Indexes
Block wp-includes folder and files
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^wp-admin/includes/ - [F,L]

RewriteRule !^wp-includes/ - [S=3]

RewriteRule ^wp-includes/[^/]+.php$ - [F,L]

RewriteRule ^wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/.+.php - [F,L]

RewriteRule ^wp-includes/theme-compat/ - [F,L]

</IfModule>
Deny access to wp-config.php file
<files wp-config.php>

order allow,deny

deny from all

</files>

Force HTTPS and Set Time Zones


# Force HTTPS

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.christitus.com/$1 [R,L]
Set Central Time Zone
SetEnv TZ America/Chicago

Miscellaneous Optimizations


<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

<IfModule mod_negotiation.c>

Options -MultiViews

</IfModule>

RewriteEngine On
Redirect Trailing Slashes If Not A Folder...
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [L,R=301]
Handle Front Controller...
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
Handle Authorization Header
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} .

RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

</IfModule>

Expires Header Configuration


# BEGIN Expires

<ifModule mod_expires.c>

ExpiresActive On

ExpiresDefault "access 2 days"

ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 3 seconds"

ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 2419200 seconds"

ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access 1 month"

ExpiresByType application/pdf "access 1 month"

ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 year"

</ifModule>
END Expires
Compression Optimization


<IfModule mod_deflate.c>

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/x-icon

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml svg svgz

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-truetype

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-otf

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-woff

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-woff2

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-opentype

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/vnd.ms-fontobject

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/ttf

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/otf

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/eot

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/woff

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/woff2

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype
For Olders Browsers Which Can't Handle Compression
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html

BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4.0[678] no-gzip

BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html

</IfModule>

Bad Bot and Vulnerability blockers


# Block Bad Bots & Scrapers

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Aboundex" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "80legs" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "360Spider" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Java" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Cogentbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Alexibot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^asterias" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^attach" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BackDoorBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BackWeb" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Bandit" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BatchFTP" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Bigfoot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Black.Hole" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BlackWidow" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BlowFish" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BotALot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Buddy" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BuiltBotTough" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Bullseye" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^BunnySlippers" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Cegbfeieh" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CheeseBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CherryPicker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ChinaClaw" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Collector" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Copier" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^CopyRightCheck" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^cosmos" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Crescent" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Custo" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^AIBOT" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^DISCo" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^DIIbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^DittoSpyder" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Download\ Demon" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Download\ Devil" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Download\ Wonder" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^dragonfly" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Drip" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^eCatch" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EasyDL" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ebingbong" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EirGrabber" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailCollector" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailSiphon" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EmailWolf" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EroCrawler" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Exabot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Express\ WebPictures" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Extractor" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EyeNetIE" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Foobot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^flunky" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^FrontPage" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Go-Ahead-Got-It" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^gotit" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^GrabNet" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Grafula" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Harvest" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^hloader" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^HMView" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^HTTrack" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^humanlinks" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^IlseBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Image\ Stripper" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Image\ Sucker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Indy\ Library" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^InfoNaviRobot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^InfoTekies" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Intelliseek" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^InterGET" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Internet\ Ninja" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Iria" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Jakarta" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^JennyBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^JetCar" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^JOC" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^JustView" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Jyxobot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Kenjin.Spider" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Keyword.Density" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^larbin" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LexiBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lftp" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^libWeb/clsHTTP" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^likse" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkextractorPro" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkScan/8.1a.Unix" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LNSpiderguy" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LinkWalker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lwp-trivial" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LWP::Simple" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Magnet" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mag-Net" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MarkWatch" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mass\ Downloader" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mata.Hari" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Memo" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Microsoft.URL" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Microsoft\ URL\ Control" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MIDown\ tool" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MIIxpc" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mirror" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Missigua\ Locator" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mister\ PiX" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^moget" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mozilla/3.Mozilla/2.01" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Mozilla.NEWT" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NAMEPROTECT" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Navroad" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NearSite" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetAnts" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Netcraft" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetMechanic" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetSpider" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Net\ Vampire" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NetZIP" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NextGenSearchBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NG" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NICErsPRO" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^niki-bot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NimbleCrawler" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Ninja" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^NPbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Octopus" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Offline\ Explorer" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Offline\ Navigator" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Openfind" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^OutfoxBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^PageGrabber" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Papa\ Foto" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^pavuk" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^pcBrowser" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^PHP\ version\ tracker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Pockey" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ProPowerBot/2.14" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ProWebWalker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^psbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Pump" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^QueryN.Metasearch" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RealDownload" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Reaper" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Recorder" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^ReGet" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RepoMonkey" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^RMA" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Siphon" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SiteSnagger" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SlySearch" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SmartDownload" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Snake" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Snapbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Snoopy" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^sogou" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SpaceBison" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SpankBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^spanner" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Sqworm" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Stripper" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Sucker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SuperBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^SuperHTTP" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Surfbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^suzuran" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Szukacz/1.4" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^tAkeOut" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Teleport" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Telesoft" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TurnitinBot/1.5" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^The.Intraformant" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TheNomad" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TightTwatBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Titan" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^True_Robot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^turingos" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^TurnitinBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^URLy.Warning" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Vacuum" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^VCI" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^VoidEYE" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Web\ Image\ Collector" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Web\ Sucker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebAuto" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebBandit" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Webclipping.com" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebCopier" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebEMailExtrac." bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebEnhancer" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebFetch" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebGo\ IS" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Web.Image.Collector" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebLeacher" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebmasterWorldForumBot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebReaper" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebSauger" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Website\ eXtractor" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Website\ Quester" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Webster" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebStripper" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebWhacker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WebZIP" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Whacker" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Widow" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WISENutbot" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WWWOFFLE" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^WWW-Collector-E" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Xaldon" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Xenu" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Zeus" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ZmEu" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^Zyborg" bad_bot
# Vulnerability Scanners

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Acunetix" bad_bot

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FHscan" bad_bot
Aggressive Chinese Search Engine

#SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Baiduspider" bad_bot
Aggressive Russian Search Engine
Uncomment to disable this search engine
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Yandex" bad_bot
<Limit GET POST HEAD>

Order Allow,Deny

Allow from all
Surveillance

deny from 38.100.19.8/29

deny from 38.100.21.0/24

deny from 38.100.41.64/26

deny from 38.105.71.0/25

deny from 38.105.83.0/27

deny from 38.112.21.140/30

deny from 38.118.42.32/29

deny from 65.213.208.128/27

deny from 65.222.176.96/27

deny from 65.222.185.72/29
Deny from env=bad_bot

</Limit>

In Closing


I recommend and personally use all the above settings, however, I broke up each section of my htaccess so you can drop ones you don't like or want. Pay close attention to the section Force HTTPS as this will force all http traffic to https and you must have a valid SSL Certificate, that said if you don't check out this article on how to get your own certificate for free.
Leave any Questions and Comments below and I will get back to you. I regularly publish on YouTube, Steemit, and christitus.com so if you’d like to see more videos please like, subscribe, and follow me.