Malicious Software Warnings in Search Console

[woolbert]

google search console said my site failed due to malicious software being hosted. the files creating the problems are behind a username and login gate and are user submitted. the host url is also a subdomain of the main site. unfortunately, catching all malicious files is an unwinable cat and mouse.

What is he best seo strategy for this situation?

[MeganSingley]

Hi woolbert! Does this response help to answer your question or are you looking for more information? If you're good to go, please mark this as answered. Thanks!

[dohertyjf]

Hey Woolbert -

Definitely something you need to solve. If this keeps up, your site may be either marked in the SERPs as having potentially malicious code or even worse they may show a layover from the SERPs warning people, thus driving them away from your site.

You need to clean up your site. First, remove the offending files. Then contact Google to let them know what you've done. Then implement stricter controls for what can be uploaded or not. Without knowing your site, it's impossible to know how feasible this is, but it's what you need to do.

And finally, make sure your site is running HTTPS.

Good luck.