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your site delisted from Google altogether. That may not sound too major an issue. However,
most of the world uses Google as a search engine, with processing around 40,000 searches per
second. It is likely that the majority of your traffic will be coming from there.

Penalties from Google are difficult to remove and your site’s trust rating can take time to heal. In
some cases, with a low-ranking site, it is better to start again with a new domain. This may
sound drastic, but a website that no one can find is essentially useless.

Why Does Google Downgrade?

You might be wondering why Google downgrades sites if it has such a drastic effect on the sites
that it hits. In short, Google has its own reputation to maintain. By delisting sites with spammy or
negative behaviour, Google gives more reliable results and prevents users from visiting sites
with malware. Google’s search engine covers millions of sites, so rather than visiting each one
manually, Google has software that detects suspicious activity. Telling the difference between a
site that was hacked and then restored and a site owner with consistently suspicious behaviour
is tricky, so Google errs on the side of caution.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Website?

The best way to protect yourself is to be prepared and to have up-to-date online security. Know
who you need to contact in the event of a hack and move quickly. The smoothest way to restore
your site is to keep previous versions of your site on-hand to replace it with, should there be any
issues.

Like any business, you should also have a backup plan ready and waiting in case the worst
happens and your site is delisted. For example, are you able to increase your social media
following through giveaways or paid advertising? Or would you benefit from email marketing
(perhaps offering vouchers to any customer who has been affected)? The key is restoring
customer trust.

About the Author

My name is Phillip Adcock and I am the founder and Managing Director of
Shopping Behaviour Xplained Ltd. We use psychological consumer insight
and retail technology to explain and predict customer behaviour. SBXL
operates in seventeen countries for hundreds of clients, including Mars,
Tesco, and B&Q. Phillip can be reached online at [email protected] or on
Twitter @SBXplained, Facebook, LinkedIn, and our company website
www.sbxl.com.

88 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine November 2016 Edition
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