Agentic media buying needs malware guardrails: A PropellerAds view
As AI takes on more campaign decisions, traffic-quality and security signals need to become part of the optimization logic.
Topic: Malware
What is ad hijacking and how do you protect your brand from it?
In this guide, you'll learn how ad hijacking works, how to spot it and tips for PPC brand protection.
Google suspended 12.7 million ad accounts, blocked 5.5 billion ads in 2023
The number of advertisers who were blocked or removed due to policy violations nearly doubled compared to the previous year.
Google updates policy to tackle abuse of its ad network
Advertisers are advised to review the updated policy to ensure your ads or listings do not violate the new rules.
2 new Google ad network policy updates
Violations of these policies will be met with a warning 7 days before account suspension.
How to choose WordPress hosting
Learn how to find the right WordPress hosting, evaluate the providers in the market and identify the features your website needs.
15 ways to secure your WordPress site
Protect your WordPress website from harmful cyber attacks. Follow these tips to keep hackers at bay and secure your SEO performance.
Neeva shares search rating guidelines for technical queries
Similar to Google's quality rater guidelines, human raters asses the quality of Neeva's search results using these instructions.
Twitter’s algorithm ranking factors: A definitive guide
A review of many of Twitter’s patents reveals some indications of criteria that are influential to rankings that are not readily apparent.
‘Untitled’ search results sending users to spam sites, Google ‘working on it’
There are multiple reports about 'Untitled' title tags appearing in Google's search results that redirect users to spam sites.
Google search quality guidelines update breaks down dictionary and encyclopedia results and more
Google added a new section for rating dictionary and encyclopedia results for different queries, emphasizes the importance of understanding the user intent and query.
Google Ads to prohibit spyware, surveillance products and services
The ban will apply globally.
Google handles reconsideration requests in batches
John Mueller said that the Google team goes through reconsideration requests in batches, so sometimes it can feel like there is a backlog.
New Google Search Console adds a security issues section
In anticipation of the old Google Search Console going away, Google has moved the security issues into the new version.
Google says it removed more than 3.2 billion bad ads in 2017
The number of ads Google took down last year for advertising policy violations nearly doubled from 2016, and cryptocurrency ads will soon join the list of forbidden ad types.
Google’s 2016 Bad Ads Report: 1.7 billion ads removed, including fake news ads
The company says efforts to crack down on payday loan ads, ads that look like system errors and "tabloid cloaking" ads were among those that led to an increase in removed ads in 2016.
New wave of referrer spam wrecking Google Analytics data
If you're seeing a lot of referral traffic in your Google Analytics data, you're not alone. Contributor Jonathan Hochman explains how referral spam happens, lays out methods to combat it and suggests potential solutions for Google's consideration.
Google Safe Browsing “Repeat Offenders” will get a 30-day time-out
Do you continue to violate Google's safe browsing policies? Well, Google is about to get stricter on you.
Google Search Console improves Security Issues reports
The revised security reports in the Google Search Console promise to provide more specific explanations and insights into the issues.
Bing Ads bans ads from third-party tech support services
Citing "serious quality issues," Microsoft updates the Bing Ads global ad policy to disallow all ads from third-party tech support providers.
Google Search Console now sending PageSpeed update notifications
If you are running an outdated PageSpeed install from Google, Google will let you know via the Google Search Console notification center.
The terrifying connection between malware, Google Search Console, rogue subdomains and AdWords
In the midst of a malware emergency or want to ensure you never have to deal with one? Columnist Glenn Gabe provides recommendations based on his experience helping clients with security situations.
Google’s 2015 “Bad Ads” Report: 780 Million Ads, 25K App Accounts Shut Down
One of Google's efforts last year was to prevent accidental mobile clicks when app developers purposely placed ads too close to application buttons.
Google Warns Webmasters Again: Do Not Use Sneaky, Mobile-Based Redirects
After warning webmasters in early 2014 about sneaky mobile redirects, Google now says it will issue manual actions, but also offers advice on how to clean up the unwanted redirects.
Google Now Warns You Before You Visit Sites That Contain Harmful Downloads
Google releases a new security measure to warn users before they visit sites that contain nefarious downloads.
Google Issues Its 2014 “Bad Ads” Report: Disabled More Than Half A Billion Ads
Over 43 million ads were disabled for using "Trick to Click" ploys.
Bing Site Safety Page: Explains Why Sites Are Flagged In Bing’s Search Results
On the Bing Webmaster Blog they announced a new feature named the Bing Site Safety Page. The Bing Site Safety Page will show up in the search results when Bing has flagged a specific site as having a safety issue. Bing will then show the searcher what the issue is with the site, hoping the […]
Broken And Dishonest Ads
Some ads will not work or may cause problems on your site, but this is not something to be overly worried about. Broken and dishonest ads aren’t nearly as common as they used to be due to standardisation. But with the near-infinite combination of web designers, ad designers, ad servers, computers and browsers at play […]
Google Provides More Clarity Around Sneaky Redirects Against Their Guidelines
Google announced on their Webmaster blog that they have updated two of their guideline documents to improve the clarity around what sneaky redirects are against Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google has expanded their guidelines to ensure webmasters are aware that using sneaky redirects through mobile site detection and redirection, is not allowed if the content is […]
Google Issues Bad Ads Report: 59 Percent More Ads Pulled, But Fewer Bad Advertisers In 2013
In the ongoing battle to keep its ads ecosystem free of scammers and malware, Google says it pulled more than 350 million bad ads from its systems last year, up 59 percent from the 224 million it struck down in 2012. Looking back at last year’s bad ads report, it appears that for the first […]
Google Webmaster Tools Adds “Security Issues” Section
Google has announced the addition of a new section within Webmaster Tools named “Security Issues.” This new section is aimed at better communicating to website owners security issues, such as site hacks, malware, and so on and then giving a more detailed and concise method of fixing the problem and submitting a review request. In […]
Lily Collins: 2013’s Most Dangerous Celebrity To Search For
Move over Emma Watson. Actress Lily Collins has taken the title as 2013’s most dangerous celebrity to search for online. McAfee, the security technology company, is out with its seventh annual most dangerous celebrities survey, which uses the company’s SiteAdvisor site ratings to measure what percentage of search results for popular celebrities lead to risky […]
Bing Webmaster Tools Adds Malware Re-Evaluation & Geo-Targeting Tools
Bing announced two new features for Bing Webmaster Tools. First, you can now see more details on malware issues impacting your site and be able to submit a malware re-evaluation request. Second, you can now geo-target specific pages, directories or your whole site within Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing Malware Re-Evaluation Bing always had a notification […]
Bing: Our Search Results Do Not Infect Users, “Malware Study Was Wrong”
Bing has responded to the malware study conducted by AV-TEST earlier this week, claiming that Bing search results led to five times more malware than Google. To that Bing said, “the conclusions many have drawn from the study are wrong.” Why is the study wrong according to Bing? While Bing may show potentially infected search […]
Yandex Takes Exception To Search Malware Study
Yandex has taken exception to a recent study that reported it has more malware in its search results than other major search engines like Google and Bing. The company shared its concerns with Search Engine Land via email, saying that it also sent the same response to AV-TEST, the German IT security firm that published […]
Google Beats Bing, Yandex & Blekko At Keeping Malware Out Of Search Results [Study]
About three years ago, Google was labeled in one study as the “King of Malware.” Things have apparently changed a lot since then. A new study reports that Google is beating its primary search competitors pretty significantly when it comes to keeping malware out of search results. The 18-month study (PDF), done by a German […]
Google’s Cutts: We Don’t Ban Sites Critical Of Google, But Here Is Why We Do Penalize Sites…
In the latest video from Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, he addresses Google’s standards for manually removing spam from the Google index. Matt Cutts first said and repeated it a couple times within the video that Google will not penalize or ban a site that is being critical of Google. Matt said: “One […]
Will A Google Crackdown On Shady Search Toolbars Hurt AVG & IAC?
Search toolbars are big business for security software company AVG and media company IAC. But could revenue from these toolbars be in danger, as Google says it is stepping up enforcement of its policies against shady behavior related to toolbar downloads? IAC’s Mindspark makes substantial revenues through search toolbars, and AVG, in September 2011, said […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 31, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Search Engine Land’s Most Read Stories Of 2012: Google Places Goes Google+, Panda, Penguin & More What were our most popular stories on Search Engine Land over the past year? Below, […]
Infected Search Results Jump 80% During Holiday Season
Chris Larsen from Blue Coat Security shared new statistics on the number of poisoned search results during the holiday shopping season. The new stats show an 80% jump in the number of clicks on infected search results from their last report in August. Specifically, they tracked 13,616 different clicks over 10 days, which is an […]