Site Blocked Unexpectedly

​

Gather the Exact Details First

• The full URL, not just the domain
• The affected user or representative test user
• The user’s OU or custom-group assignment
• Device platform and whether the user is on campus or off campus
• The time of the report and, if available, a screenshot of the block page

​

Check the Effective Result

1. Test the same URL and user context that triggered the report. Do not troubleshoot against a simplified or shortened version of the site address.
2. Use Policy Checker or the equivalent policy-comparison workflow in Admin to see how filtering policies are being applied to the user or target in question.
3. Review any allowlist, blocklist, or other explicit site rules that could override the broader category behavior.
4. Confirm whether the site is being blocked because of its category, because it is uncategorized, or because of a recent rule change in the policy.
5. If the user could match more than one policy, verify which policy is winning and whether a local customized policy is overriding an inherited one. See Understand Policy Precedence if the assignment chain is unclear.
6. Confirm whether the user is being filtered by an in-school policy, an out-of-school policy, or a DNS filtering path that applies different rules.
7. After making a change, retest the same URL in the same context and document what was changed so future requests are easier to review.

​

Identify Common Causes

​

Know When to Escalate

• The result in Policy Checker does not match the observed behavior
• The block occurs only on a specific platform or deployment path
• The site still appears blocked after the policy has been updated and retested
• You need help confirming categorization or product behavior that is not visible from Admin

​

Resources