Google is in the game of giving their loyalists the tools needed to succeed online. In the past, the search engine giant has released strict guidelines for webmasters to help them avoid Panda and Penguin penalties, and now Google offers help content to educate site owners on how to recover from a hacked site, and avoid the disaster from the start.
The site was announced at SMX West, but Google officially launched the help center for hacked sites in a blog post on March 12, 2013. The website offers step-by-step web and video content that outlines each part of the recovery process. The videos are led by Google’s Developer Programs Tech Lead Maile Ohye and her Google colleagues.
Google had let site owners know when their sites have been compromised in the past, but the new help center should provide webmasters with additional steps to resolve security breaches. Ohye writes, “While we attempt to outline the necessary steps in recovery, each task remains fairly difficult for site owners unless they have advanced knowledge of system administrator commands and experience with source code.”
The blog post also offers tips on how to avoid getting hacked in the first place. Maile says, “Just as you focus on making a site that’s good for users and search-engine friendly, keeping your site secure – for you and your visitors – is also paramount.” She offers these tips below to avoid needing help for hacked sites:
- Keep software updated.
- Understand security practices of all applications, plugins and third-party software before they’re installed on a server.
- Remove unused software.
- Create and update strong passwords.
- Manage all devices logged into secure servers.
- Backup website content.
