Strange thing going on in SERPs with client's website

[Chris Ratchford]

I'm about to launch a new website for a client, but I decided to check on their current site (which I designed a few years ago) and noticed something really odd.

When I search the dentist's name I get the following results. Check out the description...



It's a WordPress site and I scanned for malware... and even looked in GWT. I can't find anything.

Here's what I searched to find this: https://www.google.com/search?q="Walton+S+Peery+DDS"

Thoughts?

 

[MiriamEllis]

Uh-oh, Chris. That looks rather like a hack to me. Looks like your client's site is WordPress based, and hacks are not uncommon. I did a search for some of the spam that's appearing in the description and didn't turn up anything. But, if you search for 'payday loans hack', you will find a ton of stuff. For example:

Google Groups

Unfortunately, I'm not an ace troubleshooter, but an investigation of the server is one way to discover if strange things have been uploaded. I hope someone who has more experience with resolving hacks will chime in.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Thanks for your help Miriam!

I did a quick search and found some good tools. I'm also happy to know that the new site, which is about to go live, is not infected.


FYI- it seems it's GoDaddy problem- the old site is hosted via GD, but I've been using HostGator for new clients the past two years and have been very happy with their service.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Chris,
You know, I almost asked if the site was hosted by GoDaddy, but I was in a bit of a rush. Issues like this one are a reason many people migrate away from that particular company. We've experienced numerous hacks of clients' sites that they had hosted there. Not great. Glad if my reply helped.