Comments on: Hackers Forcing Sites to Cloak Search Engines with Link Spam

By: Automotive Social Network

Automotive Social Network — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:28:13 +0000

If we link to a cloaking site, my gut feeling is we will get penalised. However, if the cloaking site is linking to us, that is another issue.

By: Sherri D

Sherri D — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:27:32 +0000

WOW…always learning something on this website! Thanks so much and I’m glad Mr. Selznick got the problem figured out!

By: David Jones

David Jones — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:28:51 +0000

Thanks for this. I noticed this issue a while back and thought I had deleted it all. I even had my host upgrade my WordPress installation at the time.

I’ve since removed what I hope is the last of the cloaked links and asked Google for reinstatement.

I appreciate the tips and the head’s up from you and your reader Kyle.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:05:58 +0000

Everett,

Thanks for the info…I’ll be sure and put it to good use!! You’re smarter than you look and as usual, I’m luckier to be surrounded by those that do than I realize…

By: Everett

Everett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:44:22 +0000

ineedhits – you’re absolutely correct. It could happen to anyone. I have a few blogs myself with outdated WP installations that I’ve been too busy to update. I’ll be updating them today, but sometimes we play that game of chance where we know it needs to be done but hope nothing happens while we’re trying to find the time to do it.

In the meantime, let’s all look out for each other and let the site owner know if you find anything. I have contacted Mr. Jones, and Mr. Selznick has already taken care of his site.

By: ineedhits australia

ineedhits australia — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:05:59 +0000

Great example for others to ensure its not happening to them. And im sure Mr. Selznick is very grateful for your post.. It could happen to anyone using an older wordpress instillation.

By: cbstogner

cbstogner — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:41:03 +0000

So if you are linking to a website that is cloaking links will you get banned?

By: everett

everett — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:40:27 +0000

Hey Mathew,

Glad to see you’ve got of under control now. I was planning to email both sites that I used as examples but wanted to give it 24 hours so readers could still see the examples as they were. I hope you understand my delay; and I’m glad it all got sorted out for you.

Better late than never!

By: Mathew Wayne Selznick

Mathew Wayne Selznick — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:03:18 +0000

“Gee, is my face red.”

Thanks for the blog post, and thanks to your reader Kray who was kind enough to e-mail me. This was apparently the result of a WordPress vulnerability that has been (they tell me) rectified. I cut out the nastiness from the footer.php file; bye bye piggyback spam!

Thanks again.

By: Loren Baker, Editor

Loren Baker, Editor — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:06:56 +0000

“Google webaccelerator ”

Wow, there’s a blast from the past.

I put together a video on this but am having a difficult time uploading it to YouTube. It’s 8 minutes long.