How to check if a website has been serving up malware

Category Link Building, Tools/Resources | 7 comments »

A new resource in the link builders toolbox

In SEO links are the golden commodity that make or break a campaign. Not only are inbound links critical in ranking, but who you LINK TO can also be a serious consideration. Google has said many times that you really can’t be hurt by who links to you, but you can be damaged for linking to bad neighbourhoods.

One area that can certainly get a website flagged is by serving up malware or other nastiness. Most often this is done by hackers/crackers that have accessed the site and installed malicious scripting on the server. But how does one know if a potential link target has had issues in the past?

Enter the Google diagnostic tool

There is a handy little too at Google for checking the recent history on domains which is well worth using when link building (link exchanges, link drops) as well as checking websites you may be linking out to within your content or blog posts. It is a simple query; http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=site-reference.com  (replace the end part with the domain you’re investigating)

What does an infected website look like? Here’s one example; http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=news.com.au

 

It can happen to anyone

And yes, I mean anyone… look at a search for Google.com – or eBay - and Joomla (as recent as yesterday) – you get the idea. While these sites seem to be good at catching it, there have been attempts.

How reliable is the application? It’s hard to say at this point as it’s only reporting problems that Google has seen; they don’t seem to be testing entire websites. What is important is that you remember that malicious actions can have an affect on your site’s presence in search engines. Be vigilant.

This only takes a few moments and can be invaluable to the search optimizer. Add this little toy to your toolbox and take the time to check out those sites you’re considering linking to from now on…. Better safe than sorry. I’d also suggest checking your own site every month as well to ensure you haven’t been compromised. All in all.. and groovy new tool in the box.

L8TR

(thanks to Jim Stewart for the tip )

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7 comments to “ How to check if a website has been serving up malware ”

1. # 1 Checking for Malware has said:
   November 8th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   [...] It’s a handy tool and you can learn more in a recent blog post; Checking websites for Malware [...]

2. # 2 Check if a Site Serves Malware Before Linking for SEO has said:
   November 10th, 2008 at 9:56 am

   [...] So, in an effort to not only protect your site from linking out to bad neighborhoods, but also to protect bad neighborhoods from linking to you, I suggest that before you link out or build an incoming links, make sure that site has not been flagged by Google for distributing malware. How can you do this? I highly suggest taking the time to view this video from StewArtMedia.biz on how to check if a site is distributing malware (compliments of IMBroadcast.com and also covered by Dave Harry) [...]

3. # 3 Check if Busby SEO Test Website is malwares has said:
   November 11th, 2008 at 1:01 am

   [...] ways i found on this website : we can use safe browsing facility on google. the sintax is quit simple, type on browser URL : [...]

4. # 4 jazzian has said:
   November 11th, 2008 at 1:15 am

   wow, great tool, thanx for sharing
   keep sharing knowledge with others!

5. # 5 Visual guard for Oracle has said:
   December 9th, 2008 at 2:25 am

   Nice tool, Thank you for sharing tool.

6. # 6 Google spreads malware • Tim Nash UK SEO Blog has said:
   January 6th, 2009 at 6:39 am

   [...] a few more checkout How to check if a site is serving malware or um not as the case [...]

7. # 7 mutuelle has said:
   December 11th, 2009 at 4:09 am

   Thanks for your helpful article.