{"id":19867,"date":"2021-02-03T00:24:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T18:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/?p=19867"},"modified":"2021-02-12T18:16:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T12:46:28","slug":"what-is-a-url-blacklist-and-how-can-i-protect-myself-from-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/what-is-a-url-blacklist-and-how-can-i-protect-myself-from-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A URL Blacklist And How Can I Protect Myself From It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The security of your website is one of the most important aspects that you should pay attention to given the rapidly growing number of&nbsp;cybercrimes&nbsp;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the significant problems in the internet world is URL blacklisting.&nbsp;For security reasons, search engines and authorities blacklist suspicious website URLs and IP addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/transparencyreport.google.com\/safe-browsing\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;blacklists about 10,000 website URLs every day, which is considered suspicious.&nbsp;This means that these sites are not safe for visitors.&nbsp;Google blacklists URLs to protect internet users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you will learn a detailed description of the URL blacklist, how it happens, what is its impact, and how to protect yourself from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, let&#8217;s begin!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">URL Blacklist: what is it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, URL blacklisting is the process by which search engines and other authorities like Google, Norton Safe Web, Bing, McAfee SiteAdvisor, etc., blacklist or remove the URL of a web -site from its respective index.&nbsp;They do it to find sites as potentially malicious, which can be in various forms, such as phishing schemes, Trojans, spam, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, authorities and search engines prevent users from going to the site and notifying the site owner, thereby discouraging the malicious intent of the attacker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does a URL get blacklisted?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Search engines such as Google seek to offer their users a secure online service To achieve this goal, search engines and other security authorities are investing resources in detecting and labeling malicious websites that could pose potential online threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since search engines never want to lose their users to infected websites that harm users&#8217; computers, they do not show such sites in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many reasons why a site might be blacklisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Phishing schemes<\/li><li>Trojans<\/li><li>Pharma hacks<\/li><li>Web scraping<\/li><li>Spam<\/li><li>Downloading unwanted programs<\/li><li>Insecure plugins or libraries<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, if a website is found with such vulnerabilities, the browser displays security warnings and informs visitors that the visit is unsafe.&nbsp;A warning, as shown below, may be displayed if the site contains malware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, many website owners have no idea that their website is at risk or has already been hacked.&nbsp;So how can you check if your site&#8217;s URL is blacklisted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is your site blacklisted?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can perform various security checks to determine if your site is blacklisted or not.&nbsp;We recommend checking through a special service from Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/transparencyreport.google.com\/safe-browsing\/search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Safe Browsing<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; Displays problems with your website, as well as whether it is blacklisted or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check site traffic &#8211; there will be a rapid drop in traffic.&nbsp;You can use Google Analytics to check your site&#8217;s traffic, and if you notice any rapid decline, it could be a warning that your site might be blacklisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does this affect business?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>URL blacklisting can be really damaging to a business, both in terms of revenue and reputation.&nbsp;In fact, a website can lose around 95% of its organic search engine traffic.&nbsp;As a result, it directly affects sales as well as income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only search engine traffic, but when users access your site manually, the browser displays warnings and that&#8217;s not good.&nbsp;Your potential customers will immediately leave your site and move elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can I avoid blacklisting a URL?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As they say:Prevention is better than cure<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You must watch the security of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Continuous updating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Outdated plugins, libraries and themes can leave your site vulnerable to potential threats.&nbsp;As a result, cybercriminals can easily use your website when they spot any loopholes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use a mechanism to automatically update the components of your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are using WordPress then you may want to consider using&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ithemes.com\/sync\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iThemes Sync<\/a>&nbsp;, which allows you to centrally manage multiple websites.&nbsp;You can update hundreds of sites with one click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don&#8217;t use untrustworthy software<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Try not to use software from untrustworthy developers.&nbsp;This is because by trying to get it for free, you are putting your site at risk in terms of its online security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find many sites offering free themes and plugins.&nbsp;But it is always a wise decision to refrain from unreliable sources, because this can open doors for malicious acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wherever possible, choose premium software and tools from trusted websites to keep your website secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Go to a reliable hosting platform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It is recommended that you choose a secure hosting platform that you can trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, let&#8217;s take a look at some of the best tracking and site fixing services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manually monitoring your site and fixing it when it gets blacklisted can take a long time.&nbsp;Instead, you can seek help from trusted services that can monitor the security of your website as well as blacklist fixes.&nbsp;This way, you can save your time and invest in other important tasks that require your attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Sucuri<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sucuri.net\/website-security-platform\/blacklist-removal-and-repair\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sucuri<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;is one of the most trusted platforms and security leaders when it comes to website security.&nbsp;With extensive industry security experience, they can quickly analyze what and how attackers are carrying out their intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can perform effective security checks to detect malware, spam, and other malicious activities to keep your site safe.&nbsp;And if your site gets blacklisted, it can fix it by the authorities as well, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Google Blacklist<\/li><li>Norton Safe Browsing<\/li><li>SpamHaus Blocked Domain List<\/li><li>Yandex<\/li><li>Bing Blacklist<\/li><li>Phishing Buck<\/li><li>ESET<\/li><li>McAfee SiteAdvisor<\/li><li>AVAST and much more &#8230;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sucuri offers a wide range of website protection tools using the most advanced malware scanners for optimal security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Security Scanner<\/li><li>Monitoring SSL \/ TLS Certificates<\/li><li>Uptime and DNS Monitor<\/li><li>SEO spam scanning<\/li><li>Restore backup<\/li><li>Cloud WAF<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can rely on Sucuri to protect your website from online vulnerabilities and fix it when blacklisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Astra<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.getastra.com\/features\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Astra<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;offers top-notch services to combat hackers and other online threats.&nbsp;You can use its 360-degree real-time protection against malware, bots, hackers, SQLi, spam and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It offers security solutions for various platforms like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Joomla, OpenCart, PrestaShop, etc.&nbsp;Their security solution includes hundreds of features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. SiteLock<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the widely recognized web security providers,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitelock.com\/products\/website-security\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SiteLock<\/a>&nbsp;, offers automated cybersecurity solutions to help companies counter malicious activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SiteLock offers a powerful yet affordable solution.&nbsp;Thanks to automatic fixes, you don&#8217;t have to worry about the security of your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. MalCare<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malcare.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MalCare<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;offers effective WordPress protection for website owners, developers and agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It crawls your site efficiently on a dedicated server to reduce server load.&nbsp;If your website is blacklisted, MalCare can help you fix it quickly by leveraging its website network and detecting sophisticated threats in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cybercrime is growing rapidly and has a significant impact on businesses in terms of both revenue and reputation.&nbsp;URL blacklisting is one such factor that plagues businesses today.&nbsp;Thus, implementing website security is an important step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The security of your website is one of the most important aspects that you should pay attention to given the rapidly growing number of&nbsp;cybercrimes&nbsp;. One of the significant problems in the internet world is URL blacklisting.&nbsp;For security reasons, search engines and authorities blacklist suspicious website URLs and IP addresses. Google&nbsp;&nbsp;blacklists about 10,000 website URLs every&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is A URL Blacklist And How Can I Protect Myself From It? | ValeurBit Infosec<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/valeurbit.com\/blog\/what-is-a-url-blacklist-and-how-can-i-protect-myself-from-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is A URL Blacklist And How Can I Protect Myself From It? | ValeurBit Infosec\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The security of your website is one of the most important aspects that you should pay attention to given the rapidly growing number of&nbsp;cybercrimes&nbsp;. 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