WordPress Hacked: How To Fix Google Search Results

Was your WordPress hacked? You probably might have taken all the steps to fix the issue, right? Even if you fix it, you might still see the error in the Google search results. It may be a simple message that says “This site may be hacked” or you might be seeing a lot of spam links on Google.

There are various other search errors that you will face when your website is hacked. For instance, the title of the website in search results might be changed. However, the most common issue here is either “This site may be hacked” message or there could be unusual links. Don’t worry, we will still see all the things that you can do to fix Google search results after WordPress hacked issue.

Common unusual search results after WordPress hacked

There are many errors that you might come across when WordPress is hacked. We will be seeing some of the common errors that you might be facing. So, if you are facing one of these errors, you are the exact right place. Even if you are not, our method will fix the issue. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about. Here are the common search results after WordPress hacked.

• You are seeing an error message “This site may be hacked”.
• The other similar error message would be “This site may harm your computer”.
• You might also be seeing a lot of unusual spam pages in the search results that make no sense. These are the pages generated by WordPress.
• You are seeing the wrong title in the search results. This also includes the wrong description.
• Some of the pages or the homepage are in different languages.
• You are also seeing “Translate this page to English”, even if your website is in English.
• Some unusual text is seen in the middle of your website description or title. Generally, it’s a spam message in a different language.
• Your website’s ranking was pushed to the bottom as your WordPress website was hacked.
• You are not seeing your website at all in Google. Even if you type “site:yourdomain.com”, you are not seeing a single result. This is the most extreme case and it is very hard to fix this particular issue.

These are some of the common errors that you will see when you are facing WordPress hacked issue.  As mentioned above, there could be many other things along with these errors. So, even if you are facing some other search results issue, this guide is for you.

Fix the website

Of course, the first thing that you need to do is forget about the search and fix the website. There could be malicious code or it could be a plugin that is causing the error. Your job here is to fix the entire website and scan it for the vulnerabilities and malicious codes. Once you do it, you are all set to head over to the next step.

You can generally remove all the code by using one of the security plugins. Many security plugins might come helpful in fixing your WordPress website. All you have to do is scan the entire website with the help of one of the plugins. Once the website is scanned, it will tell you about the infected files. Your next job will be to fix those files.

We will be focusing more on the search part of this guide. We will see how you can remove the unusual results from Google and other search engines. The task is easy to do and you can quickly remove them. However, there are particular steps that you will have to follow carefully if you want to remove the errors and fix the issue.

Therefore, you can follow all the steps or the things we tell you in the article. So, once your website is fixed and malicious code is removed from the website, you can continue with the following guide. If you are not able to do so, you can continue the guide. The guide will cover some tips to fix the website too. We will not only be removing the unusual search results from Google but we will also see the method to remove it from every other search engine too. Therefore, it will cover the complete guide.

Check the search console

The first thing you need to do is to check the Google search console. Google is the best search engine. The search console of Google will give you the exact information on why your website was blocked or your website is showing “This site may be hacked” or “This site may harm your computer” error right below your website.

Just log in to the search console. If you don’t already have an account there, you should register here for an account. It will tell you everything you should know about the search engine. After registering, you will have to verify your website. Google will show you a step by step guide to verify your website. Once you verify your website, you can continue with the security problem we are facing.

Inside the search console, there will be a menu known as “Security issues”. You will need to go over there. It will display the exact reason why your website is seeing such an error. Further, it will also show you some of the sample pages. Please note that these are not the only pages that are affected. These are the sample pages that need to be fixed. Google also has a resources page that you can read and check to find out how to fix WordPress hacked website.

If you haven’t already fixed the issue, you will have to find all the similar pages. Google search console won’t tell you about all the files. Hence, we will have to apply a different method to find all these files. We will now see how you can find all the pages of a similar type.  Don’t close the Google search console tab as we will need to the same page. It is always a better option to have the reference open.

Google Analytics will be helpful

To find all the links, you need to take the help of Google Analytics. Google analytics can be very much helpful as it will show you the list of all the pages on your website.

Please note that you must have analytics installed on your website if you want to use this trick. So, make sure you have Google analytics.

Now, you can open Google analytics and check all the sample URLs. It will give you the complete URL list that is on your website. Please note that it will also include the link of the admin side. So, it would be a little hard to find all the links. Especially, if you have no experience with Google search console, you might find it very difficult to get all the data. Therefore, you will need to give some time and effort here.

Please note that you don’t need to find all the URLs, all you have to do is find the pattern. For instance, if all the pages have a word or a number in common, you can then easily trace all the pages. It would be best if the URLs starts with a particular word. If all the unusual URLs have “redirect” words in common, you can easily find all of them.

Other common ways to find the URLs

No doubt, Google Analytics is not the only way you can find the URLs. So, don’t worry even if you haven’t found any of the URLs. There are many other ways which you can use which will give you the exact links. We will be seeing a couple of ways to do so.

The first and easiest way is to use a scanner. There are many scanners available. If you want to use WordPress plugin, you can use iTheme security, WordFence, Sucuri, or similar plugin. If you want to go with the online scanners, you can use VirusTotal or Sucuri site scan. Moreover, if you want better security, you can also scan it with your hosting panel security scanner.

The best way here would be to use all the scanner list and then find the URLs. You can first try to scan it with the online scanners and then you can use one of the plugins for better security. Once everything is done, you can also scan it with the virus scanner by your hosting panel. It will give you the complete list of the links or the pages that you can use. The scanners will also give you the option to fix all the infected files. So, you can use it to fix the files. In this way, your website will be cleaned. Once it is cleaned, you can recheck all the pages to be sure about the infection.

Furthermore, you can use Google search to find out the URLs. All you have to do is type “Site:yourdomain.com”. This will give you the list of all the pages on the website.

Common things to fix

Now, let’s see some of the common ways you can use to fix the Google search console or to find the URLs. It is just an addition to the above-given method.

Regenerate your .htaccess file will help you a lot. To do that, you need to head over to WordPress > Permalinks. Just hit the save button without making any changes. It will regenerate the complete file.

The next thing you can do is fix your robot.txt file. You can install one of the SEO plugins that will do that for you. There are many options you can go with such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math SEO, etc. All of them are good and will help you in fixing the search results.

You can also change the title and meta with the help of the SEO plugin. Therefore, you should use one of the SEO plugins when you are facing unusual search results after WordPress hack.

Tell Google about the fixes

Once you make all the above-given changes, your website will be fixed. Now, your last job will be to tell Google about it.

Open your search console. One of the best things about Google Search Console is that you can also tell Google to remove certain pages. So, you can ask Google to remove all the spam links. You can also resubmit the sitemap. The sitemap will be generated for you with the help of SEO Plugin. So, you can resubmit your sitemap and also remove the URLs.

You need to head over to the search console and go to the security issues. There will be an option to request the reindex. You can just click on it and wait for a couple of days. Google will recheck your website again and if the website has been fixed, your error would be solved.

Now, the work from your side is over. The rest of the things is up to Google. Also, you need to keep an eye on the search console. If there are any errors, it will tell you about it on the search console. Therefore, it is always the best option to see the search console and be stay updated about the warnings or the errors. If you face any errors, you can do all the steps again and you will be fine to go. Make sure you understand the error or warning before you resubmit.

Final words

To conclude, this was all about how you fix the WordPress search results error. If your website is hacked, it is always a better option to check the search console. You might not be knowing but there might be some of the errors that you will have to keep an eye on. Also, the search console will help you in many other ways of ranking your website. Therefore, you can keep exploring the search console to get amazing insights.

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