Organic Search Engine Optimization

For people in Dubai, a day won’t pass without a 7days on their hand. Or should you miss one… you can have it in just one tick from your hand. Being an avid online reader of 7 days, I usually check their site for latest news.

There are things that a normal user didnt notice when they are looking on a website but as an SEO, most of the time we don’t just read what’s in front of us but  most of the time, we check what search engines see on that website. And 7days is a victim of what we called cloaking.

Cloaking means presenting a different version of web page or content. A human reading the site would see different contents or information than a search engine robot/crawler reading the site. This is what happened to 7days.

This is what a normal user see in 7Days website.

This is what Google search engine crawlers see on 7Days website.

Unfortunately, there are  a total of 126 hacked pages 7days website has.

How will you know if your site has been hacked?

1. Do a site search command in google. ( i.e. site:www.yourdomain.com). If you see pages that you think was not created by you and has words like Viagra or Cialis, then most probably your site has been hacked.
2. Check your Google Webmaster Tool. Checking your GWT from time to time will give you information of your site’s activities.

What will you do when your site get hacked?

Google recommends:
1. Take your site offline until you find the problem and fix it.
2.Once you fix the problem, submit a reconsideration request in Google Webmaster Tools so you can get back into the Google index.
3. Watch Google Webmaster Tools to see signs of improvements.
4. Once you are back, keep an eye in Google Webmaster Tools, as Google often notifies webmasters of issues early.

Cloaking can be a dangerous thing so you have to get rid of these links as soon as possible because Google will definitely penalize your site

More Resource:

New WordPress Hacking Strategy Using Cloaking to Target Google IP Addresses – SEObook.com
About malware and hacked sites - Google Help Support
Hacker Attacks That Can Damage Your Site & SEO