My site got hacked and now i have 1000s of 404 pages and backlinks. Should i transfer my site to a new domain name and start again?
-
My site was hacked and I had 1000s of pages that should not exist created and has had 1000s of backlinks put in. Now i have the same pages and backlinks redirecting to 404 pages. Is this why my site crashed out of google and my SEO fixes since have made no progress to my problem?
-
Its not a big problem and there is no need to start on a new domain. In fact, this is common with WordPress websites that are not updated regularly.
I would advise the following:
-
Try to identify how did the hack take place - if its WordPress you can install the Sucuri Security (free) plugin that will help identify any compromised files.
-
Cleanup the website by deleting all the spam sub-folders & pages.
-
Update your WordPress, Theme and all Plugins (if this is a WordPress website).
-
You can have a quick fix for all the 404s by submitting a 410 response code for these URLs. This can be done through a number of free redirection plugins on WordPress. If its not a WordPress site, there are a number of other options to get this done too.
Hope that helps.
-
-
Are you unable to retrieve your site from your server? Is your domain or site hacked?
-
Its not a problem to have 404-Pages, when they are not linked internally. High amount of pages pointing to your site sounds like you may have to disavow stuff. If your page is known long enaugh for search engines, a new domain with equal content will make the problems move to the new domain (you may can see that happen for dejanseo switching without redirect to dejanmarketing).
Did Google saw the hack and asked you to solve the problem?
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
-
The "Fetch As Google" limit has been decreased - what now?
Since Google decreased the "Fetch As Google" limit to ten pages per day, we've been a bit stuck. We're publishing 20-30 content pages per day, targeting a huge range of search queries. Circa 40% of our traffic comes to us through these pages. Since we're now heavily restricted on submitting these to Google, who's got other ideas to get the pages picked up quickly? I'm slightly concerned because although the pages link outwards to other areas of the website, no other areas of the site link to these pages. They're purely top-of-the-funnel. We can't be the only people with this concern. How would you address it?
Industry News | | MSGroup1 -
Backlink Query. Unranked pages of High Ranking sites.
Hi, So I was just wondering if someone with more knowledge than myself can answer this question for me. I have a site - currently sat on page 2 of google. On-site optimisation is done, however I am struggling to get backlinks that are from highranking pages. I am new to SEO so need a hand. My understanding of backlinks is that the higher the PR of the site that links to your 'money' site, the better that link is, and that these links are very hard to come by. (something that I am finding). Many times I have found sites that have a high rank and offer for a free listing, only for me to fill in details and get listed on a sub-page that has no ranking whatsoever. So my question is, are these kind of links worth the effort? Do they actually have any effect on rankings? And generally would anyone have any tips on the best sites to get links? Thanks
Industry News | | Chstphrjohn0 -
International pages - SEO - which metatags to use?
I'm trying to get my International pages set up correctly for SEO
Industry News | | MikeSEOTruven
Can you tell me which of the following meta-tags are the ones to use on the pages?
I've heard that some might be obsolete, so will it hurt if I throw on all 3 or just choose 1? Example: Italian language page0 -
Page performance and reinstating previous version
Hi all, I hope there is a search guru out there who can assist with this. I decided 3 months ago that our SEO contractors weren't doing as well as they should be and after long discussion, i reoptimised all pages myself. Most are performing better now but sales and enquiries went through the floor. I have today found ranking information from the week before i made the changes, something i thought i had lost. Now i have this, i have found that one of the two main pages has gone from position 1 to position 38. This explains the problem. I know all things are not equal and in the intervening months, competitors have updated their sites and links, however, this is the security sector and things don't change much, so, all things being equal, would reinstating the old version of the page be likely to reinstate my previous ranking position or thereabouts? or will the MIGHTY GOOGLE punish me in some way for swapping back to a previous page version? We use a CMS system and all revisions are stored. The page in question is www.compoundsecurity.co.uk/security-equipment and the keyword in question is 'wireless alarms'. Any help will be greatly appreciated by this non SEO plebe. Cheers Si P.S. feel free to berate me for not recording all pertinent info about rankings BEFORE i star playing around with the site. It was my first time and i have well and truly learn my lesson.
Industry News | | DaddySmurf0 -
100's of versions of the same page. Is rel=canonical the solution???
Hi, I am currently working with an eCommerce site that has a goofy set up for their contact form. Basically, their are hundreds of "contact us" pages that look exactly the same but have different URLs and are used to help the store owner determine which product the user contacted them about. So almost every product has it's own "contact us" URL. The obvious solution is to do away with this set up but if that is not an option, would a rel=canonical tag linked back to the actually "contact us" page be a possible solution? Or is the canonical tag only used to show the difference between www vs non-www? Thanks!
Industry News | | RossFruin0 -
Two Industry giant has occupied the Google SE First Page.
I have seen just two websites on Google SE first page one with 4 and second one is with 6 internal pages on Coupon related question/niche . What it means Is this a Google Dance or temporary fluctuation. ? Why Google don't consider other sites to show on first page? Many pages from askvila.amazon, yahoo answers and facebook pages are shown on second and third pages.? Is this meant that there are a lack of quality websites/pages for this industry or query? What do you say? Here is the SERPs from Google US.(as on July 09) http://bitly.com/Md8JFW http://bitly.com/LaT9yD Thanks Alex
Industry News | | alexgray0 -
Setting up a Company Blog - Subdomain or new URL?
I've just got hold of a client without a blog (a blog is very marketable for their industry especially!). But run into the dilemma - Is it better to set up a new domain ("clientblog.com") with separate hosting or create a subdomain ("blog.clienturl.com")? Has anyone ever done a study on this and which is most beneficial? Most importantly has anyone had success with either? Thanks!
Industry News | | RPIDigital0 -
Subdomains seen as one site
Earlier this month Google announced that sub-domains are now
Industry News | | AlanMosley
be treated as one site. At first I thought this was good news as I like to use
sub-domains for separation of categories and the like. But what about links
from one sub-domain to the other, they uised to be external links now they are
internal links. If you don’t have many external links, I would say that the
cross sub-domain links would have been important, if you have a lot of external
links then the flow of link juice would be of more benefit. I think overall its
is a good thing. Does anyone have any opinions about this or know of any writings
on the subject since this announcement? http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/08/reorganizing-internal-vs-external.html0