How To Prevent Your Business Website From Being Flagged By Google Chrome

A secure business website is a must to maintain the goodwill and integrity of a business concern.

Getting flagged by Google gives a hard time to businesses. It hampers their ability to grow.

Whether you have an ecommerce website or a forum, it would be best to protect customer’s credentials at all costs.

Customers enter their passwords, usernames, credit card details, debit card details, and bank details to buy products and services on websites.

There is always a considerable risk of information theft, allowing hackers to take control of customers’ confidential information.

These days Google flag websites that are not secure by HTTPS security, warning customers about the lack of website security.

Customers, too, are mature enough to understand the meaning of padlock ahead of your website URL in the search bar, which is why securing your website is inevitable.

A website mainly gets flagged for two reasons:

  1. Flagged for security.

  2. Flagged for malware.

Let’s get into the details of both cases and their quick solutions to prevent your business website from getting flagged:

Flagged for security

The use of internet technology is increasing every day, so Google has become more rigid and conscious of protecting its users’ data and information.

Google puts a “Not Secure” sign ahead of the site’s URL if it does not have an SSL certificate installed.

About SSL certificates

SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is standard security used by websites to encrypt their data transfer between a server and a browser.

It generates a link between the two, ensuring that all data transfer is done securely without a privacy breach.

By using the Thawte SSL certificates, you can protect your website from cybercriminals and hackers.

Moreover, it will make your website pass the Google security check by adding HTTPS in ahead of your URL, preventing it from getting flagged.

Steps to install an SSL certificate

  1. Go to your web host manager and log in using your credentials.
  2. Visit your home page.
  3. Click on the SSL/TLS box.
  4. Once you reach your SSL manager, find “Install an SSL certificate on a domain” and click on it.
  5. Input the domain name in the domain field.
  6. Enter your certificate files, namely: certificate, private key, and certificate authority bundle, which is optional.
  7. Press the install button.

You have an SSL secure business website under your belt; if you find that the certificate is still not correctly installed, we recommend contacting your web hosting customer care department for further help.

Flagged for Malware

Google scans millions, if not billions of websites for viruses, scams, and malware every day.

They have dedicated professionals continually working to improve user experience and safety.

Thus, it is pretty hard for your website to go unnoticed by them. If Google finds that your website is affected by malware, it will issue a notice across all of its products.

When a user clicks on your URL, they will see a message that reads “deceptive site ahead” or “The site ahead contains malware,” complemented by a big red cross.

As a business owner, that is no less than a nightmare. Users will bounce back, and your site rankings will dip big-time.

No SEO or SSL certificate will work if your site gets tested positive for malware.

Well, here are three easy steps for removing malware from websites.

Prevent your business website from getting flagged for malware in three easy steps

  1. Run a website diagnosis

The first step is all about testing and diagnosing why your website got flagged in the first place.

If your website is registered in Google’s search console, testing becomes easy for you as Google mentions all external scripts, unauthorized redirection, or hidden iframe containing malware.

By clicking on the security issue link in the search console, you can look at all the malicious URLs that block your website.

However, if you haven’t registered in Google’s search console, you can visit Google’s safe browsing site status page and enter your domain URL.

Google will test the details and provide a test report containing the location of malicious files on your website.

  1. Extricate malware from the site.

Once Google’s search console and safe browsing site test reports are out, you can start the removal process.

Start by deleting the standalone files on the website. Apart from these payloads, look for malicious pages that were recently installed and remove them.

We recommend not to log in directly from your system as the malware can affect your system as well; instead, use Secure File Transfer Protocol to log in to your website.

If your website runs on WordPress, you can download the source files and replace it with the malicious ones.

  1. Use the search console to review your website.

Once you have a secure business wordpress website free from malware, the next and final step is to get it reviewed and re-crawled by Google.

Remember that Google only reviews a site once every 30 days. So, before starting the process, make sure that it is entirely free from malware.

Visit the Google search console and run a review step, followed by a re-crawl test to ensure that your website is 100% safe.

Also, do not forget to keep it secure for a lifetime by installing a SSL certificate.

The Conclusion

As a business owner, gaining visitor’s trust is critical for your survival. In this fast-paced digital world, you can maintain your credibility through your secure business website.

These days getting flagged by Google is similar to getting your business blacklisted. So, to prevent your business website from getting flagged, you must have a SSL certificate installed.

Also, run a website review every month to ensure that your business and customer information is safe and sound.

Happy learning!

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