Definition
A hacked site can suffer devastating SEO consequences: spam injection (Japanese keyword hack, pharma hack), malicious redirects to fraudulent sites, indexed phishing pages, and a 'This site may be hacked' warning in the SERPs that drops CTR to zero. Recovery involves several steps: identifying the vulnerability (vulnerable plugins, weak password, SQL injection), cleaning malicious code, restoring from a clean backup, changing all passwords and keys, updating all software, submitting a reconsideration request in Search Console, and post-cleanup monitoring. The process can take from 2 weeks to 3 months for full ranking recovery. Prevention (regular updates, WAF, 2FA, backups) is infinitely preferable to cure.
Key Points
- The 'hacked site' warning in SERPs drops CTR to zero
- A reconsideration request in Search Console is mandatory after cleanup
- Full ranking recovery can take from 2 weeks to 3 months
Practical Examples
Japanese keyword hack
A WordPress site is hacked: thousands of Japanese-language pages are indexed by Google. After cleaning the malicious code, removing injected pages via Search Console, and submitting a reconsideration request, rankings are restored in 6 weeks.
Pharma hack with redirects
A site is compromised with conditional redirects: visitors from Google are redirected to an online pharmacy, while direct visits display the normal site. Detection is difficult because the webmaster doesn't see the problem. A security scan and log analysis reveal the malicious code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Signs include: a warning in Search Console (security issues), unknown pages in Google's index (site:yoursite.com), redirects to suspicious sites, sudden traffic drops, hosting provider alerts, or visitor reports. A scan with Sucuri SiteCheck or Google Safe Browsing can confirm.
Generally 2 to 6 weeks after complete cleanup and reconsideration request. For severe hacks (months of spam injection), recovery can take 2-3 months. Sites with strong pre-hack authority generally recover faster.
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Last updated: 2026-02-07