Google Launches Help Center For Hacked Sites

Google has just launched a help center for hacked sites, complete with step-by-step instructions and videos that outline each part of the process. The videos feature Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead at Google (and her Googler colleagues), who told me “we wanted to connect our capability to detect and alert site owners of their hacked […]

Chat with SearchBot

Google hacked sites help centerGoogle has just launched a help center for hacked sites, complete with step-by-step instructions and videos that outline each part of the process. The videos feature Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead at Google (and her Googler colleagues), who told me “we wanted to connect our capability to detect and alert site owners of their hacked sites with improved resources to help them recover.”

For some time, Google’s been letting site owners know when their sites have been hacked, but this new help center takes the next step and walks through how to fix the site and get the warnings removed from Google’s search results. Although as Maile notes in the blog post: “while we attempt to outline the necessary steps in recovery, each task remains fairly difficult for site owners unless they have advanced knowledge of system administrator commands and experience with source code”.

The blog post also provides steps for avoiding getting hacked in the first place: “Just as you focus on making a site that’s good for users and search ­engine friendly, keeping your site secure ­­ for you and your visitors ­­ is also paramount.”

The help content is a collection of videos (totally over an hour in length) and articles that provide comprehensive and detailed information about how sites get hacked and why, and spam techniques and how to detect them, in addition to explanations about how to recover from the hacking. It’s all pretty fascinating stuff, even if your site hasn’t been hacked (well, fascinating if you’re kind of geeky, like I am).

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ubklMNgC6x8[/youtube]

Related:


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Vanessa Fox
Contributor
Vanessa Fox is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. She built Google Webmaster Central and went on to found software and consulting company Nine By Blue and create Blueprint Search Analytics< which she later sold. Her book, Marketing in the Age of Google, (updated edition, May 2012) provides a foundation for incorporating search strategy into organizations of all levels. Follow her on Twitter at @vanessafox.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.