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Friday, August 22, 2008
This post is for anyone who has been
emailed or notified by Google
about badware, received a
badware warning when browsing their own
site using Firefox, or has come across
malware-labeled search results
for their own site(s). As you know, these warnings are produced by our automated scanning systems,
which we've put in place to ensure the quality of our results by
protecting our users.
Whatever the case, if you are dealing with badware, here are a few recommendations that can help
you out.
If you have badware, it usually means that your web server, your website, or a database used by
your website has been compromised. We have a nifty post on
how to handle being hacked.
Be very careful when inspecting for malware on your site so as to avoid exposing your computer
to infection.
Once everything is clear and dandy, you can follow the steps in our post about
malware reviews via Webmaster Tools.
Please note the screen shot on the previous post is outdated, and the new malware review form
is on the Overview page and looks like this:
Other programs, such as Firefox, also use our badware data and may not recognize the change
immediately due to their caching of the data. So even if the badware label in search is
removed, it may take some time for that to be visible in such programs.
Lastly, if you believe that your rankings were somehow affected by the malware, such as
compromised content that violated our Webmaster Guidelines (that is, hacked pages with hidden
pharmacy text links), you should fill out a
reconsideration request.
To clarify, reconsideration requests are usually used for when you notice issues stemming from
violations of our Webmaster Guidelines and are separate from malware requests.
If you have additional questions, please review our
documentation or post to the
discussion group
with the URL of your site. We hope you find this updated feature in
Webmaster Tools
useful in discovering and fixing any malware-related problems.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["This post addresses website owners who have received Google notifications about badware on their sites."],["It provides recommendations on handling hacked websites and requesting malware reviews."],["Google's automated systems generate badware warnings to protect users and ensure search result quality."],["Website owners can submit reconsideration requests if they believe malware issues affected their search rankings due to guideline violations."],["Google's badware data may be used by other programs like Firefox, leading to potential delays in reflecting malware status changes."]]],["This content provides guidance for website owners dealing with badware issues. Key actions include: addressing server or website compromises by referring to a \"how to handle being hacked\" post, submitting malware reviews via Webmaster Tools, and understanding potential delays in badware label removal across different platforms. If site rankings were affected by compromised content, a reconsideration request can be filed. Additional support is available through documentation and a discussion group.\n"]]
