Integrating Cybersecurity into Your SEO Strategy

Prioritising SEO and cybersecurity enables businesses to elevate their chances of success. Here are four reliable methods to surpass competitors, safeguard your website, and maintain its ranking.

Not a single website is exempt from the need for security, regardless of its size or importance. The success of online businesses depends on achieving favourable search engine rankings in order to enhance their reputation and generate profits. To achieve this, they utilise various SEO strategies such as link building and content marketing to ensure their websites appear prominently in Google search results. However, in addition to providing valuable content, it is crucial for websites to prioritise SEO cyber security practices in order to create a safe online environment, which is also a priority for Google.

In reality, hacks can have negative consequences not only on your reputation but also on your website’s organic search performance. This highlights the connection between cybersecurity and SEO in establishing a strong online reputation for a business. Failure to comply with the latest security standards can result in the blacklisting of a website by Google and make it susceptible to spam attacks or malicious bot activity.

To effectively identify security vulnerabilities in a timely manner, integrate security checks into your development strategy, understand the importance of regular website scanning, and safeguard your local networks, we aim to provide insightful guidance.

Enhancing Website Security: Essential Measures in Four Key Steps

The presence or absence of security can have a significant impact on your SEO. It is widely recognized that the HTTP certificate is no longer a dependable method for ensuring website security. Instead, HTTPS has emerged as the preferred standard for security. Back In 2014, Google began giving preference to sites with HTTPS in their search results.

To ensure your business can thrive, it is essential to prioritise both SEO and security measures. Many companies face the challenge of enhancing their website’s visibility and safeguarding it against cyber threats. Here are some recommendations to address these concerns.

1. Familiarise yourself with the initial indicators to look out for

Malicious online attacks have the potential to result in the presence of harmful bots. While bots are an inherent component of website traffic, it is crucial to differentiate between harmless bots and those that pose a threat to security. Cybercriminals deploy bots with the purpose of scouring websites in search of vulnerable areas, stealing data, or causing content-related issues. These malicious bots consume the same bandwidth as legitimate bots and regular visitors. If a server is consistently subjected to the activities of harmful bots, it can ultimately result in the server’s inability to serve pages.

Cyber attackers consistently exploit vulnerabilities in websites, making it crucial to proactively identify the telltale signs of cyber assaults. By recognizing these warning signals, individuals can effectively safeguard against malicious bot activity.

Utilising Google Alerts and notifications

If you have received a notification from Google or come across a message indicating that a website is not available when conducting a search, it is unfortunate but indicates that your website has been compromised. To verify this, you can visit the Google Search Console and navigate to the Security Issues section where you can locate the URLs that Google has identified as being hacked.

Unusual JavaScript Code Observed

If you come across an unusual Javascript code in your website’s source code, it should raise a red flag. Hackers frequently exploit Javascript codes to illicitly obtain sensitive information such as credit card details and passwords from your site. It is crucial to promptly remove any suspicious code once you detect it.

Invalid login credentials

It is not difficult to infer that there is an issue when you enter the correct login information and receive a notification stating “wrong password.” Cybercriminals have tampered with your login credentials.

Experiencing frequent unexpected pop-ups or error messages

More than half of all malicious attacks on websites are carried out by individuals practising unethical search engine optimization, commonly known as “black” SEO. Their primary objective is to enhance the rankings of their own websites. They specifically target well-ranked websites and employ techniques such as inserting links or utilising Javascript to redirect users to their own malicious domains. This form of SEO spamming enables scammers to leverage high-ranking websites to promote substandard content to a wide audience, ultimately impacting their rankings in search results. The adverse implications of SEO spamming are numerous.

• The website may be flagged as prohibited by the search engine.
• The ranking of a website might be negatively impacted by its spam ranking.
• The reputation of a business can be significantly tarnished when visitors encounter an abundance of spam content.

Hackers frequently employ cross-site scripting or inject their own code into your website’s source code to circumvent its security measures. Therefore, it is crucial not to disregard any such notifications. It is essential to promptly conduct a thorough scan to uncover any malicious software present.

2. Incorporate security checks into your development strategy

If you should ever become a target of a cyber assault, the resultant financial damages are not the sole concern. The compromised website may also incur various penalties enforced by Google, leading to distorted search results. In turn, when prospective customers seek out your website, they will likely encounter a cautionary page that discourages them from visiting. As a result, it is crucial to incorporate cybersecurity into your SEO strategy to mitigate these risks.

While relying on Google alerts is a valuable recommendation, it is essential to take additional measures for effective cybersecurity. It is crucial to develop the ability to anticipate potential threats and manage the level of cybersecurity proactively. Apart from engaging your team of IT specialists, it is advisable to consider hiring an additional cybersecurity professional. This qualified expert will play a vital role in identifying vulnerabilities within your website and formulating a comprehensive cyber protection strategy for your eCommerce business.

3. Enhance your scanning abilities with powerful tools

To effectively eliminate malicious interference, another option is to use a file malware scanner. By examining the website code, this system ensures web pages are free from malware and any suspicious PHP or HTML files on the server. Sucuri SiteCheck or Web Inspector are two examples of scanning tools that safeguard your site against penalties and blacklisting while helping to preserve your search engine rankings.

AWStats, an open-source web analytics tool, can be utilised to examine your log files and identify any potentially harmful actions. It provides detailed information about all bots that have accessed your website, including the amount of bandwidth they consumed, the date of their last crawl, and the overall number of hits. By leveraging this tool, you can effectively detect any malicious activity taking place on your website.

As an illustration, the amount of data processed by a bot is typically limited to a few megabytes per month. However, if you experience a high number of page views from a single IP address in a short span of time, it will result in a restriction on the available bandwidth.

To effectively assess your backlink profile, it is recommended to use resources such as Ahrefs and Majestic. These tools not only enhance your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), but they also enable you to identify and remove irrelevant backlinks originating from SEO spammers.

4. Safeguard your online security and privacy by using a VPN

No matter your location, whether in a remote area, at home, or in the office, it is crucial to enhance the security of your local network. A larger network is particularly vulnerable to human errors, and the associated risks should not be underestimated when compared to smaller networks. All users must make sure that they adhere to standard security protocols. Regardless of when and where they work, they should ensure that the traffic is monitored using a Web Application Firewall and that connections are secured through a reliable VPN.

A VPN enhances website security in three primary ways. Firstly, it employs encryption to safeguard sensitive data, making it inaccessible to hackers. Secondly, by intercepting malicious software and thwarting phishing attempts, a VPN prevents unauthorised access to your system. Lastly, VPNs are crucial for companies with remote employees who rely on public hotspots to access corporate systems, as this practice without a VPN can expose security vulnerabilities.

There is currently no scarcity of reputable VPN providers in the market. It is essential to conduct thorough research and select a VPN that aligns with your specific business requirements.

Conclusion

Internet security is a significant concern that should not be taken lightly. A security breach in the functioning of your website can have severe consequences for its reputation and financial performance, particularly in the eCommerce industry. To ensure a prominent position in the online sales market, it is imperative for all eCommerce companies to incorporate cybersecurity into their SEO strategies. Recognizing the importance of web safety, it is essential for the SEO and IT teams to collaborate and develop a robust strategy that not only boosts the website’s ranking but also safeguards its security.