Site has been flagged as "This site may harm your computer"...how to request review?

Discussion in 'Google' started by johntitor, Mar 7, 2008.

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  1. #1
    Hi, I feel that 1 of my sites has been incorrectly flagged by google as having "badware"

    This can be devastating for a business or website, I saw 1 webmaster who said his traffic went from 50k uniques to 15k a day.

    Googles help page states this:

    So I sign into webmaster tools, goto the tools list and theres NOTHING there about requesting reconsideration. How could this be?

    I can't even find a contact form to ask Google about this, and obviously no phone # (who woulda thought a multi-billion dollar company would be literally impossible to get ahold of).

    I have no recourse here...I cant request a review, I cant even contact google to ask them why that option isnt there for me.

    What to do?

    Ps. check out this blog post by google: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/02/better-badware-notifications-for.html

    look how many feel that they've been incorrectly identified by this (even non-profits)

    In the meantime Ive requested a review by stopbadware.org....but even if they conclude theres no badware on my site, how do I even request Google for a review?
     
    johntitor, Mar 7, 2008 IP
  2. johntitor

    johntitor Peon

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    #2
    From: (cant post the link yet as a new member)

    I totally agree with this guy...when you run 3-4 ad networks (not shady ones, but good ad networks) its extremely possible that an advertiser can get by the ad network and advertise a link that contains or links to badware...why should the webmaster be punished like this if its beyond their control?

    I would understand if they sent a warning saying what the problem is and exactly where the badware was found (I received NO warning for this) but to just automatically label your site as one that "can harm your computer" in its search results is unbelievable. This truly does have class action lawsuit written all over it.
     
    johntitor, Mar 7, 2008 IP
  3. Onera

    Onera Peon

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    #3
    Can somebody please list the criteria Google uses to brand a site as harmful. I can think of
    phishing
    spamming

    What else?
     
    Onera, Mar 7, 2008 IP
  4. johntitor

    johntitor Peon

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    #4
    Apprently even if theres no badware on your site but a member or someone else not allowed to (a hacker for example) just posts a link to something that can be labeled as 'badware' then your site is now labeled as such...its unbelievable. When you have a site with hundreds of thousands of members and millions of posts how could you possibly monitor every single link posted? (and btw the site I have thats labeled as having badware is not a forum)
     
    johntitor, Mar 7, 2008 IP