WordPress is a open source content management system (CMS) that is very popular, and offers a wide variety of different plugins and third party themes. If you are not careful about what you put on your site, you may accidentally expose your site to a malware attack. The WP Engine Team takes security very seriously, so we do our best to prevent this from happening by black listing known plugins . Google has a general document on how to avoid Malware related issues when administering your own site. You can find that page here.
If you are hit with a malware error from Google, here is what you should do:
1. Contact the WP Engine Support Team immediately. You can go to our ticket system and log the issue, or you can email us directly at [email protected] . We will want to know what the issue is so we can assist and identify the root issue so we can make adjustments to our system to prevent it. If you have made any recent changes to your site, specifically installing new plugins, adding third party JavaScript, etc. please document that in the ticket request.
2. Verify Google Webmaster Account. When the team gives you the ‘All Clear’, have your site reviewed by Google. Before you do this, make sure that you have a Google Webmaster Account associated with your site. If you don’t, you can sign up for the service here. You will want to verify your site following Google’s instructions on how to verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools.
Note: Ideally you should have done this early on when you built your site. The Google Webmaster service is used with most sites, especially WordPress sites. If you have not signed up for a Google Webmaster Account, you should do it now.
3. Request Google to Review your Site. In your Google Webmaster Tools home page, select the site you want reviewed. Select the diagnostics link, and then select request a review. According to Google, the review process can take around 24 hours. More information on their process is on this page.
If you hit any speed bumps on the way, it never hurts to ask us for advice! If you have any questions, or concerns, please let us know!
I ran into a malware issue previously and it wasn’t fun, though, it was through a wordpress plugin that was hacked. Google seemed to have reviewed the site on their own accord (we didn’t find out immediately since it was added very sneakily) and that didn’t go over too well – lost rankings as a result.