How to Fix Japanese Keyword Hack? Recover WordPress SEO Spam
The Japanese Keyword Hack is a harmful SEO attack where hackers add spammy Japanese text and pages to a website, redirecting users to fake or malicious sites. This hack damages the website’s reputation and has a severe impact on SEO by lowering search rankings, reducing organic traffic, and causing Google to flag the site as unsafe. Hackers often exploit vulnerabilities like outdated plugins or weak passwords to inject these keywords. To recover, website owners must remove the hacked content, strengthen their security, and request Google to review their site. Preventing the Japanese Keyword Hack requires regular updates, secure passwords, and strong website security to protect your SEO and user trust.
What is the Japanese keyword hack in Wordpress(Website)?
The Japanese Keyword Hack in Wordpress or website is a sophisticated cyberattack targeting vulnerable websites through an Japanese SEO spam technique. This method involves injecting Japanese characters and keywords into a website's pages. The use of Japanese script is intentional, as its character-based format makes it less noticeable to users familiar with the Latin alphabet, allowing the hack to remain undetected for longer periods.
How Does It Work?
Hackers take advantage of outdated content management systems or weak security measures to gain unauthorized access to a website. Once inside, they create hidden pages filled with Japanese text and links to suspicious affiliate sites or counterfeit products. These pages often redirect users to unsafe destinations without their knowledge.
What makes this attack more harmful is that the spammy pages are concealed from website administrators but remain visible to search engines and users through search results. Search engines like Google index these malicious pages, causing the website to rank for irrelevant and harmful keywords. This not only damages the site's SEO performance but also affects its credibility and user trust.
Type of SEO Attack by Japanese Keyword Hack
The Japanese Keyword Hack is a type of SEO attack where your website gets infected with unwanted Japanese keywords that negatively impact your search engine rankings. Let's explore how this hack can harm your website’s SEO performance.
1. Decreased Organic Search Rankings: One of the main effects of the Japanese Keyword Hack is a drop in your website’s rankings on search engines. The search engine may penalize your site for including irrelevant or spammy keywords, leading to lower organic traffic and visibility.
2. Increased Bounce Rate: When users land on your site and find unusual or unrelated content (like Japanese spam keywords), they are likely to leave quickly. This increases your site's bounce rate, which negatively affects your SEO rankings since search engines consider bounce rate as a quality indicator.
3. Loss of Website Credibility: If your website is infected by spammy content, it can damage your credibility with both users and search engines. People may avoid visiting your site, and search engines like Google may label your site as low-quality, resulting in trust issues.
4. Negative Impact on User Experience: User experience (UX) is critical for SEO. When users see irrelevant or suspicious content, it creates a poor experience. If your site becomes difficult to navigate or displays unfamiliar keywords, users may abandon it, lowering engagement and conversions.
5. Potential Blacklisting by Search Engines: If the hack is not removed quickly, there’s a risk that search engines might blacklist your site or place it in their spam folder. This can severely limit your website’s visibility and access to organic traffic.
6. Distorted Keyword Rankings: The Japanese Keyword Hack causes the appearance of irrelevant keywords in your pages’ metadata and content. This can distort your site's keyword rankings, making it harder to rank for the terms that actually matter for your business or niche.
7. Dilution of Link Authority: If spammy keywords are injected into your site, the quality of your backlinks might be affected. High-quality backlinks may no longer provide the SEO value they once did, which weakens your site's authority and rankings.
How to Identify Japanese Keyword Hack in WordPress?
Detecting the Japanese Keyword Hack can be tricky because the spammy pages are often hidden from administrators. You need to be alert to recognise it. Here are some indications to look for:
1. Strange Japanese Text in Search Results: If you search for your website on Google and see Japanese characters in the search title or description, it's a clear indication that your site has been infected.
2. New Unauthorised Pages in Sitemap: Hackers might have created new pages with Japanese text, but these pages may not appear in your website’s normal content management system.
3. Redirects to Unknown Sites: Visitors may get redirected to unfamiliar or spammy eCommerce sites.
4. Increased Number of Indexed Pages: You may notice that search engines are indexing more pages than you actually have, often with Japanese titles and descriptions.
5. Security Warnings from Google Search Console: If Google detects malicious activity, you might receive security alerts in your Google Search Console, warning about unusual content or hacking attempts.
How to Fix the Japanese Keyword Hack?
If your WordPress site is affected by the Japanese Keyword Hack, it's important to take swift action to fix the issue. This type of SEO attack can negatively impact your website's rankings and user experience. Here's how you can fix the Japanese Keyword Hack and secure your website.
1. Identify the Hack Wbsites
The first step to fixing the Japanese Keyword Hack is identifying the infection. You need to check your site thoroughly to spot any signs of malware or spammy content.
I. Check Infected Pages: Look for any unusual or irrelevant Japanese keywords appearing in your site's content, meta tags, or URLs. These keywords are a clear sign that your site has been compromised.
II.Scan with Security Tools: Use security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri to scan your site for any malware or suspicious code. These tools can help identify hidden infections that are not visible on the surface.
2. Remove Malicious Code
Once the hack is identified, the next step is to remove the malicious code that’s causing the issue.
I. Manual File Inspection: Access your website’s files via FTP or cPanel and manually check for any malicious code or injected scripts. These can often be found in files like index.php or wp-config.php. Remove any suspicious code immediately.
II. Use Security Plugins: Security plugins such as Wordfence, Sucuri, or iThemes Security can help automatically clean up infected files and remove malicious code from your site. These plugins are essential for making sure your website is fully restored.
3. Secure Your WordPress Site
After removing the malicious code, securing your WordPress site is crucial to prevent future attacks.
Update WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins: Make sure your WordPress core, themes, and plugins are up to date. Developers regularly release security patches to protect against vulnerabilities that hackers exploit.
Strengthen Login Credentials: Change your admin username and password to something more secure. Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, consider implementing two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an extra layer of security.
4. Request Google Reindexing
After cleaning up your site, you need to ask Google to reindex your pages so that they reflect the changes and remove the spammy content from search results.
Submit a Clean Sitemap: Create and submit a new, clean sitemap through Google Search Console. This helps Google crawl your site and index the updated content correctly.
Use Google Search Console: In Google Search Console, request a manual review if your site has been flagged for containing spammy content. This will help Google re-evaluate your site and remove any penalties.
By following these steps, you can fix the Japanese Keyword Hack and restore your site’s SEO performance.
How to avoid japanese keyword future attacks:
Preventing future attacks like the Japanese Keyword Hack is essential for maintaining the security and SEO of your WordPress site. By following these simple steps, you can protect your website from similar threats.
Regular Backups: One of the best ways to avoid future attacks is by keeping regular backups of your website. In case your site gets hacked again, you can quickly restore it to a clean version. Use reliable backup plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to schedule automatic backups.
Use Premium Plugins/Themes: Using premium plugins and themes helps you avoid security vulnerabilities often found in free versions. Premium options are regularly updated and offer better protection against malware and hacks. Always choose trusted plugins and themes from reputable developers.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security to your WordPress login page. With 2FA enabled, you will need to provide an additional verification step, such as a code sent to your phone, along with your password. This makes it much harder for hackers to gain access to your site.
Change Admin Credentials: Change your admin username and password to a strong, unique combination.
Use SSL: Ensure your website has an SSL certificate. An SSL-secured website helps in encrypting data and builds trust with search engines and users.
Submit a Reconsideration Request to Google
If the site was penalised by Google due to the hack, you need to submit a reconsideration request through Google Search Console once the site is clean.
Monitor Your SEO Performance
After you’ve fixed the hack and cleaned your website, closely monitor your SEO performance. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track traffic, indexed pages, and search visibility.
Recovering from the Japanese SEO Hack
Hacking recovery in Japanese Keyword Hack is not immediate. The period of time that full ranking restoration needs differs. Persistence and constant attention are essential during the progress time.
How can MultiVision Wizards help you remove and recover your website from SEO spam?
For businesses, recovering from the Japanese Keyword Hack can be complex and time-consuming. Partnering with a digital marketing company like us that offers professional SEO services can help streamline the recovery process. Multivision Wizards can:
- Conduct thorough security scans to detect vulnerabilities and malware.
- Implement robust security measures to prevent future attacks.
- Restore your website’s SEO performance by cleaning up spammy pages and repairing any search engine penalties.
- Monitor your site post-recovery to ensure sustained protection and performance.
Case Study: A Local Business Website Hack
A small eCommerce business based in Bangalore recently fell victim to the Japanese Keyword Hack. The site experienced a sharp decline in traffic and search engine rankings. The business owners approached the best digital marketing company in India that they knew of to help resolve the issue. At Multivision Wizards, we conducted a full audit, identified outdated plugins as the entry point, and removed the malicious content. Within a few weeks of implementing security measures and submitting a reconsideration request to Google, the site’s rankings and traffic were restored.
Conclusion
Japanese Keyword Hack deems quite hazardous to the host, yet it does not preclude the problem from being solved. It means that with the right expertise and persistent effort, deprived websites can be exposed to their initial status. The key is prevention, though. Timely updates and security checks are the most effective safeguards against cracking trials and the threat of malware.
Our job in the digital marketing field is seeing the destruction that such attacks can bring; thus, we realize the difficult nature of the situation. The joy that the satisfied customer gets from regaining their top positions and traffic after a perfect redo also shows the benefits of a professional intervention in these cases.
Thus, businesses can secure their online presence and even have strong search engine rankings if they remain vigilant, use only actual systems, and partner with professionals in digital marketing.