Enable Directory-Based Password Protection for Your Website

If you want to password protect access to your WordPress website with simple HTTP authentication, you can enable this by using the WP Toolkit features available in cPanel. You can restrict public access to your website by requiring all visitors to provide username and password. This is useful, for example, if your website is work in progress and you only want selected people to be able to view it.

Please keep in mind though, that leaving your site password protected for too long can negatively impact your SEO if search engines cannot continue to index your site.

1. Log into cPanel
2. On the left-hand menu, click WP Toolkit
   
3. Find the WordPress site you want to enable Maintenance Mode for, and toggle Password protection to On
   
4. You’ll be prompted to create a username and password to log in. If you don’t do this, your site will not be protected.
   
5. Click Protect