6 replies to this topic

[Pamela]

Hi everyone-

i have seen a lot of discussion about rampant wordpress blog hacking, and wondering if dropping out of the serps could be a sign that this has happened. i have a wordpress blog that used to ALWAYS rank on page 1 or top of 2 in a Google search for the company name. It was solid, so I thought, but lately it has randomly been completely disappearing from the serps in a search for company name. It will be nowhere to be found, then we'll make a new post, it gets crawled, and starts appearing again. then it will disappear again. this has happened a few times.

i'd like to think it's a normal fluctuation, but we're talking about what used to be a VERY solid and consistent ranking, and it doesnt drop to page 3 or something, it disappears. i am wondering if this kind of behavior could be characteristic of something weird going on.. i dont know how to find out if it's been hacked, but i could possibly have someone else check on it if this kind of thing happens in that case.

i'm pretty sure it hasnt been updated in a while so it is probably a good target. i'd appreciate insight!

Regards,
Pam

[dazzlindonna]

Dropping out of the serps can definitely be a sign of being hacked. Some of the newer hacks are difficult to find, but hopefully, if you've been hacked, its one of the easier ones to find. Try this first:

viagra site:www.yourblog.com

in google (can substitute any other spam word for viagra). if you see funny stuff listed such as links you didn't put on your blog that have spammy link text - you know you've been hacked. there are hidden links you need to clean up.

Some things to read:
www.seo-scoop.com/2008/07/01/the-ultimate-hacker-prevention-guide/
www.mattcutts.com/blog/three-tips-to-protect-your-wordpress-installation/
www.seobook.com/wordpress-blog-hacking-checklist
www.epiblogger.net/5-wordpress-security-essentials/
eventurebiz.com/blog/fluffys-guide-to-securing-your-wordpress-blog/
deanhunt.com/has-your-wordpress-blog-been-hacked/

But most important: Keep your wp versions up to date. If a security fix is released - UPDATE. If you are using an older version of WP, you will get hacked - it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN.

Good luck!

[Pamela]

Thank you so so much Donna! very helpful info.

i am going to look into this further but one more question - could a hack also cause the site to load slowly? (i realize you may not have enough info, but i am just trying to see if these are common symptoms).

Thank you!

Pam

[Randy]

What Donna already said Pam.

Assuming you've locked down comments and kept them relatively clean, look for hidden links that have been injected into the picture somewhere. That's the biggie most of the hackers shoot for to get themselves free links.

[Jill]

Check how your site looks in Google's text cache. That should show you if there are any spammy hacked links, which is typically what the hackers do.

[Randy]

could a hack also cause the site to load slowly?

Yes, many hacks can exhibit this symptom.

Usually when you see this type of slowness and find a hack you'll see a bit of php somewhere that's including or opening a file from another server. That way they don't even need continued access to your site/server in order to change the stuff for which they use their hack.

The slowness results from their not having a strong server that they're pointing all of their hacks to, especially if they manage to hack a few sites that get lots of page loads throughout the day. SO while your site and its server may be running blazingly fast, it has to wait for the info from the other server before it can finish loading the page.

[Nueromancer]

Check how your site looks in Google's text cache. That should show you if there are any spammy hacked links, which is typically what the hackers do.

Also your snippet can start to have lots of strage viagra and porn related words appear in it as will your server logs.

The quick way is to look at your wordpress footer as that is where the barstards dump the links