How to Prevent SEO Spam Attacks on Your Website

SEO spam attacks create fake pages on your site to rank for spam keywords. You may not notice until customers search your brand and see weird results. These attacks damage trust and can hurt your search rankings.

The good news is that SEO spam is preventable. This guide explains how it happens and how to stop it before it spreads.

What SEO spam looks like

• Google results showing strange product or pharmacy pages.
• Hidden links in your footer or blog posts.
• Large spikes in indexed pages you did not create.

How SEO spam attacks happen

Attackers use vulnerabilities in outdated plugins, weak passwords, or exposed upload forms. Once inside, they generate dozens or hundreds of spam pages under your domain.

Prevention checklist

• Update your CMS and plugins regularly.
• Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
• Limit user roles and access.
• Monitor for new pages or content changes.
• Check Search Console for unusual activity.

How to detect SEO spam early

Run a site search in Google (site:yourdomain.com) and look for pages you did not create. Integrity monitoring can also alert you when new pages appear or content changes unexpectedly.

What to do if you find SEO spam

1. Remove the spam pages or restore from a backup.
2. Fix the vulnerability that allowed the spam.
3. Request reindexing in Google Search Console.