Maintaining a digital presence and having a fully operational website is essential for good business in the 21st century – but online operations aren’t without their risks and it’s vital that you keep yourself up to date with cyber crime trends and developments so you can protect the interests of your brand.

Something you definitely need to know about is SEO poisoning – which is where hackers compromise legitimate websites and insert their own specific keywords into web pages for online searchers to find.

When the then-compromised website reaches the top of search engine results, users click on the website link and are then directed to a malicious page, giving the hackers all the access they need to get in through the back door.

Another strategy is for hackers to spread scareware in this way, with users receiving a message warning them that their computer has a virus. They’re then given a prompt to download bogus software, which then infects the system.

The good news is that there’s a lot you can do as a business to protect yourself from hackers and SEO poisoning. First of all, make sure that your web servers are secured and monitored to prevent irrelevant keywords or metadata being inserted into your web pages. 

This will also protect you against being penalised by Google and other search engines for engaging in what, to them, would look like black hat SEO practices.

Also make sure that your content management system is kept up to date, as well as all plugins and themes. If you don’t have one already, install a firewall to make it even harder for hackers to gain access. 

If you need any further help or advice relating to SEO in Hull and East Yorkshire, get in touch with Blink today.