Tracking Down Rogue Spam Links
-
In Feb, 2015 www.mommyupgrade.com site received the following notification in GWT:
http://www.mommyupgrade.com/: Suspected hackingFeb 4, 2015
Google has detected that some of your pages may contain hidden text or cloaking, techniques that are outside our Webmaster Guidelines.
Specifically, we detected that your site may have been modified by a third party. Typically, the offending party gains access to an insecure directory that has open permissions. Many times, they will upload files or modify existing ones, which then show up as spam in our index.
Sample URLs:At that time, the site was checked by the host and site owner and any suspicious links removed. We thought the problem was resolved until a MOZ crawl on March 22 which highlighted a number of hack links again.This is the link format: http://www.mommyupgrade.com/?p=online-slots
All are related to gambling, casinos and slots.
To find the links, we downloaded the MOZ crawl report and found that all the links were referred from this page: http://www.mommyupgrade.com/how-to-make-rainbow-lollipop-cookies/
Searching that post shows no sign of links to the rogue pages.
I would really appreciate some advice on how to find the source of these links and delete them from this site once and for all. Also, please explain how it is possible for a post or page to refer to another page without that link showing up in the code? (Is this some black hat technique that I need to know about in order to protect my sites?)
Also... at the moment Google Webmaster Tools are not reporting any security issues for this site.
Any help appreciated.
-
You're welcome. I'm always amazed at the diversity of people that read and comment here. A lot of talented eyes are considering the questions for sure. Cheers!
-
@Ryan, that link is very useful and once we have the site clean we can use it regularly to check that no new issues presnt themselves.
@Richard, thank you for this information. It helps a lot.
Great community support. I wish I had asked this question days ago.Thank you MOZ.
-
There are some base 64 encoded URLs on the page. They show in the source code like below. That would be my guess as to what is creating the links, which are obfuscated for users. These types of attacks are usually called in your functions.php file or within a hacked plugin, or could actually be inserted into the css as well.
background:url(data:image/png;base64,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)
-
You can also run a search like this to get at these pages: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Amommyupgrade.com inurl%3A%3F%3Dp
The root cause is a hack of your Wordpress installation, most likely a plugin. Here's a good discussion around how this takes place: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/someone-has-hacked-the-site-and-inserted-a-link
Recently a vulnerability was found in the Yoast plugin (see: http://thehackernews.com/2015/03/wordpress-seo-by-yoast-plugin.html ), so you'll certainly want to upgrade that and preferably set your updates to automatic.
Good luck!
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
-
Why is the blog link so often found in the footer?
Hello, Can someone tell me please why are the links to a site's blog not displayed prominently? Why are they hidden away in the footer? Wouldn't making the link to the blog more visible increase traffic?
Content Development | | CyrusDariusXerxes0 -
Need advice on internal links
I run a couple of gadget/technology based blogs, which essentially has news based articles and long form articles such as reviews, tutorials, and tips. Looking for some advice on the strategy for internal links: We have been using internal links in the following ways in articles so far: Links to the category pages at the end of the article (we call it related topics) Links to category pages wherever relevant preferably in the first paragraph. The logic here was that if we can add the link to a category in the first paragraph, which appears on the home page and category page, it will pass the link juice to the category page. Link to relevant articles, mostly by using the full title of the post as we thought that it stands out. Issues with the current strategy: In the case of the 1st strategy, it doesn't seem that natural, so we are not sure if people actually end up clicking them. In case of the 2nd, we have couple of concerns: it could result in linking to a category page twice. One within the article, and the second at the end of the article because of strategy 1. Because the first paragraph also appears on the category pages, it would mean that in some cases we will be linking to the same category page (recursive). In the case of the 3rd strategy, the problem is it does not appear natural so we are sure if it increases the value of the content. I was wondering if we should adopt the following strategy: Get rid of category links at the end of the article. Avoid linking to the category pages in the first paragraph, instead link to the category pages after the first paragraph, so we don't end up with the issue mentioned in b. i. Alternatively, we could remove the excerpts from the category pages so we don't hit the issue of linking to the category page from the category page. Add links more naturally. So have a sentence which talks about the related article and link to it using partial match (keyword phrase) or exact match. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Content Development | | Gautam0 -
My Guest Blog: Still A Good Link Building Resource?
In an effort to build some links, we want to really work on improving our blog content and exposure. We want to write two quality posts per week, and submit 1 quality guest post every 1-2 weeks. However, we're not sure how to go about submitting guest posts or who to submit them to? I found an all article from SEOmoz http://moz.com/blog/4-valuable-link-building-services but it's from 2010. Is myguestblog still a good source? Are there better ways of doing it? Also, is ever advisable to pay to submit a post? Some of the legal blogs (we're a law firm) have this option, but that strikes me as spammy or low quality links. Just to reiterate, we are striving to write high-quality useful content audiences will find beneficial, not just junk or salesmanship. If it takes longer than a week to write posts like that, that's fine. We just really need some specific advise on who we should be submitting our guest posts to and who we should avoid. Thank you all so much for any advice or suggestions, Ruben
Content Development | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Translated text: should I use canonical link?
Hello everybody, I'm writing an article in Danish, which I have translated into English on a Danish blog. But I'm not sure if I have to use the canonical link from the English version to the Danish, or whether I should just publish both without using canonical link. What is your recommendation for this? Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks & regards, Jonathan
Content Development | | JoLinda910 -
If you were guest blogging would you prefer a link or revenue share
I am looking at ideas at the moment, we have been getting a large number of guest bloggers wanting to write for our site but i have to say we are turning down around 90% of the articles as they are low quality. So i am just wondering, to attract high quality articles, should we carry on offering a link in the articles or offer them revenue share by asking for their google adsense code and putting it somewhere on the page. If we did offer this, how would we impliment this, we work on a joomla website and have read about rev share but not sure how we do this correctly. Would like to know people's thoughts on this
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848861 -
Competitor has a dmoz.org link
Hello friendly folks, Found a competitor has a great link from http://www.dmoz.org/ but the directory manager seems to be inactive. Anyone had success with getting updates there or should I move on?
Content Development | | andrewhyde0 -
What is the Best Practice for External Links?
We are currently in the process of reviewing our site on a number of fronts, and part of that involves adding quality content to our product category pages where necessary. Our practice so far has been to add relevant content, and in this content externally link to a couple of relevant, related sites for that category (avoiding the use of keywords we are trying to rank for). Should we be doing this (externally linking)? And, if so, should these external links be NoFollow? So far, we have seen mixed results for our efforts.
Content Development | | Robdps0 -
Should You Allow Off-Topic Links in Guest Posts
Hi Mozzers! Suppose you accept guest posts on your blog about marketing and a guest blogger wants to use the anchor text "outdoor clothing" in their bio. Is there a risk to my blog if I allow off-topic links in guest posts? Is there a risk that Google would consider guest post links as paid and apply a penalty? Thanks!
Content Development | | Charlessipe1