How can I prevent my website from being blacklisted?
Blacklist Monitoring Website blacklisting is a way to warn and block internet users from visiting potentially dangerous websites. Blacklisting websites can happen for many reasons. The most common is the detection of malware, ransomware, spam, and unwanted ads. These backlists allow companies to continuously crawl the internet looking for compromised websites. They add a website to their blacklist if they find it misleading. You must act immediately if your website is blacklisted. This is crucial because allowing your website in this state could be detrimental to your company’s online reputation.
Vulnerabilities to Being Blacklisted
Below are some key reasons and weaknesses for being blacklisted.
- Your website was hacked
- A bad reputation is earned by your server
- Insecurely handling user data
- Links to questionable websites
- Malicious code can be used on your website
- Spammy or compromised email strategy
- Popups that are not necessary and excessive use of cookies or scripts
- Optimizing pages with excessively high keyword density is a mistake.
- Google blacklists domains that were previously spammed by people
- Hidden text can easily cause your website to be blacklisted by Google
Removal of a website from a Blacklist
Once you have confirmed that your website is blacklisted, it’s important to first debug the code, content, and database. This can take several days and is often done by your IT Manager, or website developer.
When it sends spam e-mails, your domain/IP address is blacklisted. It is possible that your website was not blacklisted. This is especially true if it is on a shared server. You could be sending spam from another website. Your website or another website located on a shared server could have been hijacked to send spam.
If you’re on a shared server you must inform your host about the blacklist and ask them to investigate. Your host will usually take 24 hours to remove your website’s blocklist position. Before removing your website from the blocklist, the host will first investigate which website is responsible.
If the website is found to be infected, the host may be able to take it offline until a security specialist can resolve the problem.
If your server is a dedicated or VPS server, you should check with your web host. Your host may say that you are responsible for repairing any damage caused by your server because it is your private server.
The best and fastest way to resolve the issue is to hire a security expert who can clean up your site and prevent further problems. Normally, the consultant will be willing to contact the agency that blacklisted your site and give the necessary details to unlock it.
How to avoid having your website blacklisted
These tips will help you avoid having your website blacklisted.
- Use extensions and plugins only from trusted sources. They should be kept to a minimum, and you should keep them updated.
- Backups should not be kept on your server.
- Get to know your server configuration files.
- For websites that collect personal data, HTTPS/SSL is required. This protects users against man-in-the-middle attacks.
- Regularly update CMS platforms, software scripts, and plugins.
- Avoid leaving multiple sites open to attack. Stick to one site per host plan.
- Protect your data and website from malicious entry.
- CMS platforms can be fine, provided you understand all security issues and vulnerabilities.
- Focus on the content of your website by removing duplicate content.
- Your website will load faster.
- If your website contains multiple 404 error pages, you should get rid of them.
- Avoid keyword stuffing.
- You should remove any backlinks that are not related to the business you deal with.
- Your website’s stick rate can be increased and the bounce rate decreased.
You can stop your website from being blacklisted by investing in a Managed Security Service. This service maximizes the benefits of integration and allows companies to strengthen security, reduce operational costs, detect problems faster, and improve their operational efficiency. Comodo, a cybersecurity firm, has created a perfect MSS. This is the ideal solution called cWatch – a Web security platform that gives you the best MSS for monitoring threats and managing them.
As a blacklist monitoring website security tool, cWatch Web protects your website through the Comodo Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) staffed with certified security analysts who have the potential to monitor, assess and defend websites, databases, web applications, servers, networks, desktops, data centers, and other endpoints.
The CSOC uses modern technology and Comodo cWatch to detect and analyze threats and execute the necessary actions to maintain optimal security. The CSOC can also extend a customer’s IT team’s ability to protect websites, systems, and web applications and handle complex security incident investigations.
The following are some of the benefits that CSOC offers:
- Blacklist repair
- Fully managed WAF
- Real-time event monitoring
- Management and response to incidents
- Analysis and threat investigations
- Risk assessment reports
- Expert tuning and configuration management
- Constant policy and prevention update
- A team of security analysts certified in providing round-the-clock monitoring
- Suspected application engineering and reverse malware
- Compliance with PCI and vulnerability scans
This web security tool provides more than just the CSOC feature. It also offers several security features that help blacklist monitoring, such as preventing malware, ransomware attacks, and suspicious emails. These web security features also include:
- Malware Monitoring and ResolutioncWatch can detect and remove malware and provide tools and methods to do so. It will also help prevent future attacks.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF).
The Web Application Firewall (WAF), from scratch, is a powerful, real-time edge security solution for web applications and websites. It provides advanced security, filtering, and intrusion prevention. - PCI Scanning
This vital scanning feature allows service providers and merchants to stay compliant with PCI DSS. - Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).
Advanced intelligence to control events and data starting from 85M+ endpoints or 100M+ domains - Secure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A global network of distributed servers that can improve the performance of web applications and websites.