How your cybersecurity affects your SEO
Did you know that your website’s security directly affects your search engine visibility? Google and other search engines increasingly factor cybersecurity into their ranking algorithms. A compromised site not only endangers your data—it can lead to significant SEO penalties, lower traffic, and loss of user trust.
In this post, we’ll explore how cyberattacks can negatively impact your website’s search performance and what you can do to stay protected and maintain your online visibility.
Hacked Site Warnings Tank Rankings
If your website gets hacked, Google might display a warning like “This site may be hacked” in search results. This warning can dramatically reduce click-through rates and damage your brand reputation.
Worse still, if Google sees signs of compromise—like malicious scripts, phishing attempts, or strange redirects—it can temporarily or permanently demote your site in rankings. Recovery often takes time, even after the hack is resolved. Make sure you monitor your site with Google Search Console and security tools like Wordfence. If you receive any alerts, act immediately and request a site review only after the hack is fully resolved.
SEO-Based Attacks Are on the Rise
Not all hacks are aimed at stealing data. Many are designed to hijack your SEO. Cybercriminals might inject outbound links to spammy or malicious sites or create hidden pages targeting unrelated keywords. These tactics can lead to ranking penalties, de-indexing, or association with blacklisted domains.
Regularly audit your site’s content, internal links, and indexed pages using tools like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog to spot any suspicious changes.
HTTPS Is Non-Negotiable
Google has considered HTTPS a ranking factor since 2014, and in 2025, it remains just as critical. Sites still using HTTP may trigger “Not Secure” warnings in Chrome and be deprioritised in search results—especially for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content like finance, health, or ecommerce. So, ensure your SSL certificate is active, set to auto-renew, and properly configured.
Reputation Damage and Negative Reviews
A compromised website can lead to visible signs of trouble—like offensive content or strange redirects. Visitors may leave negative reviews on Google, Trustpilot, or social platforms, which will further damage your rankings. Google takes review signals seriously, especially as part of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Set up alerts for brand mentions and reviews, and make sure you respond quickly to feedback. Flag any guideline-violating reviews through Google Business Profile to prevent them impacting your online reputation.
Downtime Disrupts Search Performance
Significant downtime due to a breach or maintenance during recovery can lead to drops in your SEO rankings, especially if Google encounters repeated crawl errors or server outages. To prevent any issues, use a staging site for maintenance, implement a proper 503 status code during outages, and ensure you have uptime monitoring in place with tools like UptimeRobot or Pingdom.
Work with a Security-Savvy SEO Partner
At Artemis, we combine advanced SEO strategies with cybersecurity awareness to help your business grow safely and sustainably. If your site has been hit by a cyberattack—or if you want to prevent one—our team can help you recover rankings and build long-term digital trust.
Contact us today to learn more about how our integrated SEO and security solutions can protect and grow your business online.
