Use Search Console
{% YouTube "jC7jja6ebBM" %}
If you've already
verified ownership
of your site, you can skip the first action below and go right to checking your
site information in Search Console.
You'll need
- The ability to
verify ownership
of your site using a technique such as adding a file in the root directory,
authoring of
meta tags,
owning a Google Analytics administrative account for the site, etc.
What you'll do
In this section, you'll perform the following actions:
- Verify ownership of your site in Search Console.
- Check that the hacker didn't already verify ownership in Search Console
and make unwanted settings changes.
- Determine the nature of the attack.
Verify ownership of your site in Search Console {: #verify }
- Open a browser and navigate to Webmaster Central.
- Click Search Console.
- Sign in to Search Console using a
Google account. If you don't have a
Google account, click Create an account. A new Google account doesn't
mean you'll lose your existing email account with another company.
(More information about accounts.)
- Click Add a site. Type your site's URL in the box, then click
Continue.
- Decide the most convenient verification method for you. The
Recommended method tab on the verification page shows the method Google
thinks will work best. Additional methods are listed on the
Alternate methods tab.
(More information about verification.)
- Bring your site back online if you selected a verification method that
requires access to your site, such as HTML meta tag or HTML file.
- Click Verify to verify ownership using your selected method. If
verification is successful, you'll see a congratulatory screen mentioning
that you're a verified owner. You can take your site back offline, but
be aware that it will need to be back online in future steps.
Check that the hacker didn't already verify ownership {: #check }
Once verified, check that the hacker didn't already verify ownership in
Search Console and make unwanted settings changes.
- Navigate to the main Search Console homepage by clicking the Search Console logo.
- Find your site, then click Manage site.
- Click Add or remove users.
- Be sure that all
users and owners
listed are authorized.
- Document the email address of any unauthorized user (in case it's helpful
in the future), then delete the user from your site. For unauthorized
owners, you'll need to both delete the owner and any possible verification
tokens, such as a verification metatag on your homepage or a HTML file on
your server.
(More information.)
- Investigate for unwanted settings changes in Search Console. Click the
settings Settings icon, then click
Site Settings
to check for possible undesirable changes by the hacker such as a lower
Crawl rate
(perhaps with the goal to avoid search engine spiders). Also, check that
nothing unusual is listed in the section Google Index >
Remove URLs or
settings >
Change of Address.
Determine the nature of the attack {: #determine }
The information in the Message Center and Security Issues in Search Console can
help you determine whether your site was compromised in any of the following
ways:
- With spammy content that could reduce the quality and relevance of
search results.
- For phishing purposes.
- To distribute malware.
To investigate hacking or malware using Search Console, complete the following
steps:
- Navigate to the Search Console homepage by clicking the Search Console logo
in the upper corner.
- Click Messages.
- Check if there is are any critical messages from Google regarding whether
your site was used for 1) serving spammy pages, text or links, 2) phishing,
3) distributing malware. If you have a phishing notification, please do
not delete this message until you have completed the entire recovery process.
- Navigate to Security Issues in Webmaster tools.
- Sites affected with malware will show a top-level heading of "Malware,"
and then categories of malware types, such as "Modified server
configuration" or "Error template injection." In these cases, the hacker
may be using your site to infect your visitors with software designed to
access confidential information or harm their computers. To find out
how to fix this, please continue to
Assess malware damage.
- Sites that were hacked to serve spam may display a top-level heading of
"Hacked" and then categories hack types, such as "Content injection."
It’s likely the hacker has placed spammy pages, text, or links on your
site. To find out how to fix this, please continue to
Assess spam damage.
- Sites with a "phishing notification" in Search Console Message Center
may not show any information within Security Issues. By creating phishing
pages on your site, the hacker is using your site to obtain users' login,
password, or financial details, often by masquerading as a trustworthy
site. Since the cleanup for phishing is similar to spam, please continue
to Assess spam damage.