Google’s John Mueller acknowledged via Google+ today that a small number of sites are getting mislabeled as “hacked” in search results.
Currently, Google is in the process of rolling out a new hacked page classifier, and as a result a number of sites are getting incorrectly marked as hacked sites.Obviously this is a problem because it would deter anyone from wanting to visit your site.
How do you know if you’re affected? First, do a quick search for your site and see if a line of blue text appears underneath the title tag reading “This site may be hacked.” If you don’t see that line, you’re good. If you do see that line, and you’re certain your site is not hacked, here’s what you can do to fix it.
Go here and fill out the form, then someone at Google will review it and remove the label if your site is in fact safe. It was not indicated how long you’d have to wait before Google removes the label on your site, but hopefully they are quick about it.
Mueller recommends getting someone who is experienced in working with hacked sites to double-check whether or not your site is really hacked, because that’s a whole other issue you’ll need to deal with.
For more information about solving these types of issues, see Google’s best practices for dealing with hacked sites.
