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Friday, December 17, 2010
Today we've added a new notification to our search results that helps people know when a site may
have been hacked. We've provided
notices for malware
for years, which also involve a separate warning page. Now we're expanding the search results
notifications to help people avoid sites that may have been hacked and altered by a third party,
typically for spam. When a user visits a site, we want them to be confident the information on
that site comes from the original publisher.
Here's what the notification looks like:
Clicking the "This site may be hacked" link brings you to an
article in our Help Center
which explains more about the notice. Meanwhile, clicking the result itself brings you to the
target website, as expected.
We use a variety of automated tools to detect common signs of a hacked site as quickly as
possible. When we detect something suspicious, we'll add the notification to our search results.
We'll also do our best to contact the site's webmaster via their Webmaster Tools account and any
contact email addresses we can find on the webpage. We hope webmasters will also appreciate these
notices, because it will help you more quickly discover when someone may be abusing your site so
you can correct the problem.
Of course, we also understand that webmasters may be concerned that these notices are impacting
their traffic from search. Rest assured, once the problem has been fixed, the warning label will
be automatically removed from our search results, usually in a matter of days. You can also
request a review
of your site to accelerate removal of the notice.
If you see this notification appearing on your site's listing, please take a look at the
instructions
in our Help Center to learn how you can begin to address the problem. Together, we can make the
web a safer place.
Update (2:50pm PT, September 19th 2013): We've updated this post to reflect the change in
the notification wording.
[[["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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Search results now display a "This site may be hacked" notification for potentially compromised websites to protect users.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis notification is triggered by automated tools that detect signs of hacking, such as spam injection, and is accompanied by webmaster outreach.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsite owners can have the notification removed by fixing the issue and requesting a review through Google Webmaster Tools.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe notification aims to inform users and webmasters about potential security risks, promoting a safer web browsing experience.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClicking the notification leads to a Help Center article with further information, while clicking the search result still takes users to the website.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["The notification system in search results was expanded to alert users when a site might be hacked, typically for spam. Automated tools detect signs of hacking, and affected sites receive a \"This site may be hacked\" notification. Webmasters are informed via Webmaster Tools and email. Once the issue is resolved, the notification is automatically removed, or webmasters can request a review. The goal is to ensure users trust the site's information and help webmasters address security breaches.\n"],null,["# New hacked site notifications in search results\n\nFriday, December 17, 2010\n\n\nToday we've added a new notification to our search results that helps people know when a site may\nhave been hacked. We've provided\n[notices for malware](https://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=45449)\nfor years, which also involve a separate warning page. Now we're expanding the search results\nnotifications to help people avoid sites that may have been hacked and altered by a third party,\ntypically for spam. When a user visits a site, we want them to be confident the information on\nthat site comes from the original publisher.\n\nHere's what the notification looks like:\n\n\nClicking the \"This site may be hacked\" link brings you to an\n[article in our Help Center](https://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=190597)\nwhich explains more about the notice. Meanwhile, clicking the result itself brings you to the\ntarget website, as expected.\n\n\nWe use a variety of automated tools to detect common signs of a hacked site as quickly as\npossible. When we detect something suspicious, we'll add the notification to our search results.\nWe'll also do our best to contact the site's webmaster via their Webmaster Tools account and any\ncontact email addresses we can find on the webpage. We hope webmasters will also appreciate these\nnotices, because it will help you more quickly discover when someone may be abusing your site so\nyou can correct the problem.\n\n\nOf course, we also understand that webmasters may be concerned that these notices are impacting\ntheir traffic from search. Rest assured, once the problem has been fixed, the warning label will\nbe automatically removed from our search results, usually in a matter of days. You can also\n[request a review](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2600725)\nof your site to accelerate removal of the notice.\n\n\nIf you see this notification appearing on your site's listing, please take a look at the\n[instructions](https://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=190597)\nin our Help Center to learn how you can begin to address the problem. Together, we can make the\nweb a safer place.\n\n\n**Update (2:50pm PT, September 19th 2013):** We've updated this post to reflect the change in\nthe notification wording.\n\nPosted by Gideon Wald, Associate Product Manager"]]
