Badware alerts for your sites

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

It's been a while since we published this blog post. Some of the information may be outdated (for example, some images may be missing, and some links may not work anymore). Read our up-to-date documentation about malware.

As part of our efforts to protect users, we have been warning people using Google search before they visit sites that have been determined to distribute badware under the guidelines published by StopBadware. Warning users is only part of the solution, though; the real win comes from helping site owners protect their own users by alerting them when their sites have been flagged for badware—and working with them to remove the threats.

It's my pleasure to introduce badware alerts in Google Webmaster Tools. You can see on the Diagnostic Summary tab if your site has been determined to distribute badware and can access information to help you correct this.

If your site has been flagged and you believe you've since removed the threats, go to https://stopbadware.org/home/review to request a review. If that's successful, your site will no longer be flagged—and your users will be safer as a result of your diligence.

This version is only the beginning: we plan to continue to provide more data to help site owners diagnose issues on their sites. We realize that in many cases, badware distribution is unintentional and the result of being hacked or running ads which lead directly to pages with browser exploits. Stay tuned for improvements to this feature and others on Webmaster Tools.

Update: This post has been updated to provide a link to the new form for requesting a review.

Update: More information is available in our Help Center article on malware and hacked sites.