What is Hotlinking?

Hotlinking (also known as inline linking, piggybacking, leeching and bandwidth theft) refers to when one site links directly to an object on a second site. Typically, the object is a picture that can then be displayed on the linking site without the owner having to copy the actual file from the second site.

How Hotlinking can Affect your Wordpress Blog

Hotlinking not only allows another site to use your content without permission but also uses your bandwidth to do it. Every time a user surfs to the page of the offending site, the actual image shown is downloaded from your server to the user’s browser, even though the user is not on one of your web pages. This can degrade performance on your site or even cause your site to run over the bandwidth limit allotted by your web host - typically resulting in additional charges or even a suspension of service.
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Identifying the Problem

Using CPanel, you turn on Hotlink protection to prevent outside hot linking to your files from unauthorized sites.

Enabling Hotlink protection causes a 404 error for previously-working Wordpress URL’s

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