Spamming and Wordpress
-
Hi,
I have a Wordpress site for which I was ranking #1 for my main key phrase. Then I noticed that my site had plummeted in ranking. Investigating I found the cause to be a hacking issue where my code has lots of content for and backlinks to Viagra sites! How do I best work on retrieving my ranking and making sure that the site in question gets penalized?
-
thanks, Paul.
I am testing the "Wordfence" plug-in, and I was able to identify (and delete) a malware file. I should probably look for a more secure host as well.
Cheers
Bo
-
This plugin is really helpful for protecting your site:
Once you clean up, it should gain rankings back.
-
A good idea would be to change your passwords on a monthly basis and maybe ask your hosting company to see if there is anything they can do to stop your site from being hacked. Also ask them if they have any data on when your site was hacked.
A good hosting company will help you keep your site secure
-
Just a heads-up Bo - and really sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but fixing a WordPress hack like you're describing is almost never as easy as just deleting the code you see in headers. Like on virus-infected desktop computers, the malware often hides an additional payload of crapware that is capable of regenerating the spam links after a designated time period.
There are a number of different WordPress scanning services like http://sucuri.net/, as well as security-scanning plugins available. Be sure to use a couple of them (no one tool catches everything) to make sure you site is actually clean. In addition, monitor it carefully and repeatedly for the next several weeks to make sure the malware doesn't surreptitiously re-assert itself.
Lastly, make certain you have changed all ftp passwords for your site's server and that you are using strong, complex passwords. This is an easy vector of attack that many webmasters forget to secure. If possible, you should be using sFTP (secure ftp) for any work on your site as it encrypts ftp passwords where regular ftp sends them in the clear and so is extremely easy to hack.
Paul
-
Hi,
thanks for sharing! I found the code in the Header and deleted everything, so hopefully that should take care of the "clean-up" process, so I can start on the "small matter" of regaining my ranking. I'm in 50th at the moment, so at least I'm indexed!
cheers
-
Hey Bo, just thought I'd chime in here. I had a client's site get some kind of nasty code injection - pharma stuff like you're talking about. Happened a month or so ago. He was #1 for his keyphrase also, but as soon as the site was compromised, he dropped to page 4-5. Soon as I re-did the site and got it live his rankings came back.
Sooo...bad news and good news. I highly doubt your site is actually de-indexed (good news). The bad news is the amount of work you'll have to do. I completely wiped the root folder, deleted the DB, and re-built the wordpress site from scratch on a different theme/framework.
-
hi, thanks for the advice!
I will check Webmaster tools, and send a description of the issue. I´m sure you´re right regarding the penalty issue, I guess I just have to tighten security...
-
Most usually, your rankings will come back once you clean your site up. I'd recommend letting go of thoughts regarding penalties to site in question. There's really nothing that the ordinary mortal can do that will make that happen and if there was something that could be done, they'd be up and running the next hour with another site (which probably already is up and running.)
The big take away is: keep your wordpress up to date, delete your admin account, and set up an account with another username with a strong password.
-
Is your site listed in google wmt? if so is there any messages.
Ask for re-consideration and explain what happened
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Referral Spam
Seem to be getting an awful lot of referral spam (Very large percentage), does it cause a problem with SEO or do search engines ignore it? Is it likely to have a negative effect? Is it a type of commercial warfare by competitors? Does anyone have any direct experience or knowledge? Thanks
Technical SEO | | seoman100 -
Spam flags for sub-domain
Hi Moz Community, I am reviewing our website via MOZ and found the following issues: http://shopwindowcleaningresource.com/ 1. No Contact (please refer to the attached image). However, we have an up to date contact info on our website. We have social buttons at the footer, our telephone number is at the top and we have a contact us page. Any idea, why we are being rated as such and how to resolve it? Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. 327M9Fc
Technical SEO | | Shop-Sq0 -
Best practice to handle Wordpress Categories/Tags
Hello Mozzers, I am sure a lot of people here are using wordpress. How do you handle Categories & Tags? I came across that they produce a lot of duplicate content in the google index. My website is brand new so I don't have any traffic yet, how would you handle it? noindex, follow? Or block /categories/ and /tags/ from robots.txt? Probably I am completely wrong with both ways? I am grateful for your answers! Best regards!
Technical SEO | | grobro0 -
Should I wory about spam domains linking to me?
A while ago my site had a pharmacy hack done to it and created a ton of spam links. I've since fixed the issues on my site but I'm still showing links from their sites. See screen shot: http://awesomescreenshot.com/0497cc147 I think they are links from the spam site to me and not my site "yakanger" linking to them correct? Do I need to worry about these? Can I get rid of them?
Technical SEO | | mr_w2 -
Should WordPress themes be hard coded for better SEO?
In the interests of making my site faster I have recently come across the suggestion of removing unwanted PHP from my WooThemes WordPress theme. The suggestion is to hard code the choices I have made in the WordPress template to reduce on database calls. Has anyone actually done this to their WordPress theme before and seen any measurable results?
Technical SEO | | Wallander1 -
What is the best permalink structure for WordPress?
Hi, Does anyone have practical knowledge of the best permalink structure to use in WordPress? I have seen recommendations for just the post name or category and post name and then some who suggest having 3 digits as part of the structure for pick up in Google news. I am left a little confused - does anyone have practical experience of the best structure please?
Technical SEO | | Wallander0 -
Should I allow index of category / tag pages on Wordpress?
Quite simply, is it best to allow index of category / tag pages on a Wordpress blog or no index them? My thought is Google will / might see it as duplicate content? Thanks, K
Technical SEO | | SEOKeith0 -
Rel Canonical - Wordpress
How do you fix the rel canonical issue on a wordpress site? Is there a quick fix? I have a few notices on my site and am a little confused. Thanks, Jared
Technical SEO | | SaborStyle0