How a Hacked Site Can Damage Your Search Engine Ranking

Finding out your site is hacked can be more than annoying. According to research conducted by Wordfence, a company that offers a WordPress security plugin, a hacked site can damage your search engine ranking for the long term — even after the site is cleaned up.

Here's what Wordfence's survey uncovered about the damage caused by a website hack:

If Google Knows Your Site Is Hacked, You Will See a Bigger Drop in Traffic

Sites that were flagged by Google as being hacked saw a **77 percent drop in traffic** compared to the 45 percent average drop in traffic of hacked sites that weren't flagged by Google.

**What you can do:** Check your website often. If you do get hacked, clean up the damage quickly before Google takes notice. If Google alerts you to the fact that your site has been hacked, follow their steps to get back on your feet and then ask them to review your site. Unfortunately, the process of being reconsidered by Google can take up to a few weeks.

Even After Cleanup, Things Don't Return to Normal Right Away

You would think that once you have cleaned up your site, things would return to normal. But the Wordfence survey found that **less than half (about 40 percent)** of people whose sites were hacked were able to restore their sites to normal within a day.

Since many businesses depend on their websites to generate leads and drive sales, any time that your site is down can translate to lost profits and damage to your company's reputation.

A Hacked Site Can Be Expensive

Of the hacked website victims surveyed, 14.4 percent paid a professional to return their site to normal after an attack. Wordfence found that **the average cost of a hacked site is $2,518.**

What You Can Do to Mitigate the Damage

The best way to ensure that your site doesn't suffer long-term search engine ranking damage is to make sure it doesn't get hacked in the first place. In addition to toughening up admin access and network security, make sure that you are protecting your site against common types of attacks such as cross-site scripting, distributed denial of service attacks, and leaked information.

It's also important to keep your site backed up at all times. That way if you do get hacked, you can restore your site to the most recent backup.

At [Sting Marketing](/about), we know the damage caused by a website hack can have direct implications for your business. That's why we stay up to date on information about the latest ransomware, malware, and internet scams. We specialize in building and redesigning [websites for companies](/services/web-design) that want to improve their online visibility.