Website Security - Blacklisting

I wanted to share with you a recent real life situation with one of our strategic website partners. When we decide to partner up with a new business by designing, developing, and deploying a WordPress website, one of the ongoing monthly services we provide is website security.
 

As professional web developers, our job is to give our clients the best possible guidance – ALL THE TIME. Website security should be a no brainer. Nonetheless, it is up to us to educate the small business owner so THEY can make an informed decision about what direction they want to take with their business. Our job is to put them in the position to win on the web. A winning strategy on the web MUST include a plan for website protection.
 

Recently, I received a notification from one of my partner’s website. The notification was suggesting there was Malware on the site. Upon further investigation it was discovered that the website DID NOT have malware.

Malware is when a hacker injects malicious code into your website. Then that code, if undetected, can adversely affect anyone who visits your site.

Instead of Malware, the notification was that the website was “Blacklisted”.
 

Read More HERE about what do if your website is Blacklisted.
 

So this was good news/bad news. The good news was that there was no malware which meant our security protocols we working correctly. The “bad“ news was the blacklisting of the domain name. Sometimes when these scans occur, there can be a false-positive read. I was confident that site would be removed from the “blacklisting” status since we develop in WordPress with excellent website architecture, (read Google Crawl), provide valuable content, and have security and back up in place.
 

I followed their request for an email from the website administrator (West Bay Media Group) and fulfilled any requests they required. Once this was done correctly, the site was removed off the list immediately.
 

Blacklisting is a service provided by Google and other entities to “clean up“ the web and provide a valuable end user experience. These type of technical adjustments can be challenging for the average website/business owner. That is why West Bay Media Group exists. We are here to help the small business owner do what they do best – run their business. If you have any questions, or would like us to take a look at your website, contact us anytime.
 

Thank you for reading and best of luck on running a successful website!

 

Tom Hamilton

CEO/Founder
West Bay Media Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom is a professional musician still touring and performing!   

Here is his bio.