Google Blacklisting: Why Is My Website Blacklisted & How to Fix It?

If you’ve ever visited a website only to be greeted by a red screen warning you about a malware infection, you’ve found a blacklisted site. Search engines do their part to protect users everywhere from malware and cybercrime through a process known as “blacklisting.” While this can be helpful, it is not the most reliable way to look for malware. We’ll discuss what blacklisting does and does not do, as well as the most effective ways to know if a website is infected with malware.

What is blacklisting?

To encourage a safer internet and protect users from malware infections, Google and other search engines regularly review websites for malicious software, known as malware. Malware can be used to attack websites in various ways, often without the site owner's knowledge. Since it’s not always obvious when a site is infected, search engines issue warnings to alert visitors.

While blacklisting may seem harmful to small businesses, it isn’t intended as a punishment. Google blacklists websites to protect users from hackers and malicious content. This approach promotes safe browsing for everyone, including web users, hosting providers, and site owners.

How blacklisting works

Blacklisting websites is how search engines protect browsers from malicious content. Search engines detect malware by sending out bots (the good kind) to crawl or “index” your site. The primary purpose of indexing is to make the crawled pages available to appear in search results, but these bots also look for website malware.

If malware is detected on the site, the website will be inaccessible to visitors, or “blacklisted.” Blacklisting means that the site will be removed from search results so that it can’t be found through search, and a warning will prevent direct visitors from entering the site. This prevents visitors from being affected by malware attacks, which could steal their personal data, send spam, or even spread more malware.

You may not know that your website has been infected with malware or malicious code—but you’ll figure it out when Google or another search engine detects it and marks your site with the warning label. The same warning could also appear next to your domain name when prospective customers try to search for your business directly.

Impact of being blacklisted

Being removed from Google or another search engine’s results page means your rankings and visibility will plummet. Users won’t be able to find your website via Google search result pages (SERPs), and even if they visit your website directly, they’ll be deterred by that infamous warning message. Ultimately, low visibility causes traffic to tank, which could inevitably hurt sales. Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts will become a sunk cost, and the longer the warning sign remains on the site, the more the damage multiplies.

These consequences can be devastating for small businesses, in particular. For instance, one website owner saw a 50% drop in traffic to her small business’s site after being blacklisted. Ultimately, she had to hire an expert for $1,000 before she could resubmit her site to Google. And this was a relatively inexpensive fix: it can cost up to $10,000 depending on the extent of the damage.

This makes it incredibly important to identify and fix malware problems immediately.

Is blacklisting the best way to find website malware?

The truth is that blacklisting occurs only when malware is definitively identified, with no chance of a false positive. This cautious approach is necessary because blacklisting can be devastating to a business’s bottom line and reputation. However, there are two major drawbacks:

1. The damage has likely already been done. Search engine bots do not crawl websites daily, and the crawling frequency depends on various factors. As a result, by the time a website is flagged, it may have already been infected for days, if not weeks.

2. Many infected websites go undetected. According to SiteLock research, 83% of infected websites receive no warning from search engines at all.

While blacklisting is still a valuable service that protects many users from harmful malware infections, it is not designed to protect website owners. Relying solely on search engines to find malware is risky. Fortunately, whether you’re a website owner or just a visitor, there are more proactive ways to ensure protection.

Recognizing a malware infection

While many types of malware are difficult to detect with the naked eye, some common malware attacks do show symptoms that all visitors should be aware of:

• Defacements. This attack is the easiest to spot, as cybercriminals will replace a site’s content with their own name, logo, and/or ideological imagery.

• Suspicious pop-ups. Be cautious when encountering pop-up ads claiming you're the lucky one-millionth visitor or offering similar unbelievable deals. These ads often contain hidden malware that could be downloaded to your computer if clicked.

• Malvertising. We recommend exercising caution when clicking on any ads, as legitimate ads can be infected with malware. However, some malicious ads are more obvious. They typically contain spelling/grammar errors or unprofessional graphic design, feature products that don’t match your browsing history, or promote “miracle” cures or celebrity scandals.

• Phishing kits. Phishing attacks trick users into handing over sensitive information by imitating commonly visited sites, like banking websites. They may seem real at first glance, but spelling and grammar errors will give them away.

• Malicious redirects. Often used in conjunction with phishing kits, malicious redirects take visitors from one site to another, usually malicious, site.

• SEO spam. If you see unusual comments, usually with spam links, in a website’s comments section, it’s likely SEO spam.

Another way to quickly identify a potential malware infection is to analyze website traffic drops on webmaster tools like Google Analytics and Bing Analytics. Then, follow up on Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools to see if any web pages were deindexed from search results. A sharp decline in organic traffic could be a telltale sign that your website is experiencing security issues.

Blacklist removal requires manual action

If you are blacklisted, you’ll need to get back up and running as soon as possible to avoid lasting damage. The first step is to remove all malware from your website and database, which can be done by implementing an automated website malware scanner. The automated scanner will find and remove any malicious content on your website, and it should have the capacity to patch security vulnerabilities to prevent “quiet attacks,” such as outdated plugins, JavaScript, or backdoor files.

Once your site is malware-free, the next step is to create a Google Search Console account and request a review or recrawl of your site. If Google fails to detect malware during its scan, it will take your site off the blacklist and remove the warning label.

Even if you mitigate the problem and restore your site as quickly as possible, those who did see the warning screen may not be keen to revisit your site anytime soon. This is one reason preventing cyberattacks with the right website security solution should be your first line of defense.

You can’t rely on Google or other search engines to catch all malicious links or content on your site. After all, not all infected sites are blacklisted. Research from the “SiteLock 2022 Website Security Report” found that only 8.42% of sites containing malware were blacklisted by search engines in the previous year. Take adequate precautions by implementing automated security tools, and you won’t have to worry about how to get your website off the Google blacklist.

How to avoid being blacklisted

To secure your website and avoid being blacklisted, take these five steps.

1. Safeguard incoming traffic. The first step is to implement a web application firewall (WAF), which will act as a gatekeeper for incoming traffic. A WAF will block bad bots that could inject SEO spam, malicious links, and other nefarious content—all of which could flag you as a candidate for blacklisting.

2. Detect malware before search engines. Don’t wait to implement an automated malware scanner until after you’ve been blacklisted. Instead, implement an automated malware scanner to find and remove malware before Google or other search engines find it first. A good scanner should help prevent infection and blacklisting.

3. Monitor file changes. Establish a baseline of what your website’s file structure should look like, then regularly check for any changes to that structure. When changes occur, inspect them for anything suspicious.

4. Properly evaluate external links. Any links being used on your website for advertising, affiliate marketing, or linking to another site should be properly vetted. If Google notices that your links lead to dozens of spam sites, it might blacklist your site, even if you aren’t hosting malicious content. Also, avoid the deceptive black hat SEO practice of purchasing links.

5. Consult a professional. Different environments and functionality can call for different security measures. In the same way, you would consult a mechanic regarding your vehicle, you should consult a security professional to help you establish what your security posture should look like. SiteLock’s professionals can help you learn more about how to secure your website.

Being blacklisted can cause permanent damage to your small business, but don’t blame Google. It’s only trying to protect web users. You should share that goal. By having robust cybersecurity strategies in place, you can prevent malware from entering your website and avoid having to get your website off the Google blacklist in the first place.

Mitigate blacklist security risks with SiteLock

SiteLock is a website security provider that helps protect businesses from cyber threats and prevents blacklisting. We offer a malware scanner to detect threats, malware removal to quickly clean up infections, and vulnerability patching to secure websites. Our WAF blocks malicious traffic, reducing the risk of attacks that can lead to blacklisting. By using these services, SiteLock helps keep websites secure and avoid the negative impact of being blacklisted by search engines.