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Solutions

SEO poisoning protection

Disarm SEO poisoning,
reclaim your revenue

SEO poisoning protection that’s fast, automated and scalable.

Reclaim customers, revenue and brand equity
with automated SEO poisoning protection

PHASE 1

SEO poisoning attack preparation

Bad actors study your site code as part of SEO poisoning attack preparations.

SEO poisoning attack preparation

What if you could

Detect ATO attacks *before* they become attacks

Detect website reconnaissance attempts in real time, before SEO poisoning attacks even start.

SEO poisoning attack preparation
Detect ATO attacks before they become attacks

PHASE 2

Fake site creation

After studying your site code, bad actors create and launch impersonating websites that look just like yours.

Fake site creation

What if you could

Stop customers falling for ATO traps in the first place

Be instantly alerted when lookalike URLs are registered, and when they go live.

Fake site creation
Fake site creation
Stop customers falling for ATO traps in the first place
Fake site creation

PHASE 3

Organic Promotion of fake sites

Once live, fraudsters use blackhat SEO techniques like keyword stuffing to organically promoting their fake site ranking over yours.

Organic Promotion of fake sites

What if you could

Disarm fraudsters when they try to steal customer credentials

Automatically disable SEO poisoning and downgrade offending websites’ ranking to reclaim your search engine results?

Organic Promotion of fake sites
Stop customers falling for ATO traps in the first place

PHASE 4

Paid promotion of fake sites

Fraudsters may also use pay-per-click (PPC) techniques to promote their fakes and steal traffic using Search or Display ads.

Paid promotion of fake sites

What if you could

Trick fraudsters into locking themselves out of your website

Automatically disable impersonating websites promoted in search results using fake paid ads?

Paid promotion of fake sites
Stop customers falling for ATO traps in the first place
Paid promotion of fake sites

PHASE 5

The business impact

You may not even realize you’re losing revenue, as fake sites fulfill orders with counterfeit goods and competing fake ads increase your PPC campaign cost.

The business impact

What if you could

Protect customers longer against future ATO attacks

Shield revenue, brand equity and customer acquisition cost efficiency from SEO poisoning and malicious paid ads?

The business impact
Stop customers falling for ATO traps in the first place
The business impact

Like any digital risk protection worth the investment, memcyco uses AI

Disarm SEO poisoning, without the heavy lifting

WITH MEMCYCO

WITH MEMCYCO

Real-Time detection

Instant visibility and disarming of SEO poisoning threats as they happen

Continuous protection

Always-on, without need for manual intervention

Cost-effective

Effortless and effective 
without burdening IT teams

WITHOUT MEMCYCO

WITHOUT MEMCYCO

Manual monitoring

Time-consuming, prone to human error, and slow to detect threats

Periodic audits

Reactive, prone to blind spots, requires regular updates

Constant content management

Labor-intensive, potential gaps 
in protection, high overheads

Protect customers longer

Crush ATOs earlier, and keep them crushed longer

Discover why global brands replace their previous solution with Memcyco

Discover how Memcyco detects the pre-attack ATO smoke other solutions miss, while keeping you and customers protected, even if credentials were stolen.

Outsmart the SEO poisoners and take back what’s yours

Disarm SEO poisoning up to

93%

Downrank fake

sites in less than

Zero

Cut losses and 

expenses by

$Millions

Discover more reasons why global teams use Memcyco

Already crushing SEO Poisoning? Solve more

Employee ATO scams

Account takeover (ATO)

Keep customer accounts safer and auto-lock fraudsters out

Higher education IP theft

Higher education IP theft

Prevent theft of academic research and other intellectual property

Charity scams

Charity scams

Preserve trust in secure donations that go to the right people

Fake courier scams

Fake courier scams

Get control of one of the most common fishing-related scams around

Fake gift card scams

Fake gift card scams

Protect customers from fake gift card scams and websites

Credit card scams

Credit card scams

Keep customer card data safer and lock fraudsters out of accounts

TIME FOR A DEMO?

Discover the ‘nano defenders’ in Memcyco’s secret sauce

Find out how Memcyco’s real-time digital risk protection is saving global enterprises millions

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Frequently asked questions

SEO poisoning is a cyberattack where malicious actors manipulate search engine rankings to push compromised or fake websites to the top of search results. These websites often contain malicious content, such as malware or phishing traps. Attackers use techniques like keyword stuffing, cloaking, and link farms to make their malicious pages appear relevant to popular search terms. Once users click on these results, they may be redirected to malware-laden websites or phishing pages designed to steal personal information, credentials, or financial data.

SEO poisoning primarily exploits vulnerabilities in search engine algorithms, often taking advantage of weaknesses in how search engines rank and categorize content. Additionally, these attacks exploit users’ trust in search engines, as many users assume the top search results are legitimate. Another vulnerability arises from poor website security practices, such as insufficient protection against drive-by downloads or cross-site scripting (XSS), which attackers may exploit once users are redirected to malicious websites.

SEO poisoning can severely impact legitimate websites by crowding search results with malicious or irrelevant content, which pushes legitimate pages down in rankings. This reduced visibility can lead to a significant drop in organic traffic. Additionally, legitimate websites may suffer reputational damage if users mistakenly associate them with the fraudulent sites. Moreover, SEO poisoning can create a competitive disadvantage, particularly in industries where search rankings are a key driver of business.

Attackers typically use several techniques to carry out SEO poisoning. These can include:

 

Keyword stuffing: Overloading pages with popular keywords to manipulate search engine rankings.

Cloaking: Serving different content to search engine crawlers than to users, tricking the search engine into indexing a seemingly legitimate page.

Backlink manipulation: Creating link farms or purchasing backlinks from compromised websites to boost the ranking of the malicious page.

Hijacking legitimate websites: Injecting malicious code into legitimate, high-traffic websites, so when users click on the site, they are redirected to a malicious domain.

Identifying SEO poisoning attacks involves several strategies:

  1. Analyzing referral traffic: Suspicious spikes in traffic from search engines could indicate that SEO poisoning is redirecting users to or from a compromised website.
  2. Monitoring website rankings: A sudden drop in search rankings or a spike in similarly named fraudulent websites in search results may indicate an ongoing SEO poisoning attack.
  3. Checking for suspicious redirects: Regularly analyzing website access logs and search queries can reveal malicious redirects that may be indicative of SEO poisoning.

Industries that rely heavily on online search traffic and customer engagement via websites are frequently targeted. This includes e-commerce, financial services, healthcare, and hospitality. These industries are often targeted because attackers know that compromised websites can lead to significant financial gain, either through direct theft or by compromising sensitive personal information. Additionally, websites in these industries typically have a large, diverse user base, making them lucrative targets for SEO manipulation and fraud.

When users fall victim to SEO poisoning, the consequences can be severe. They might unknowingly download malware, such as ransomware or keyloggers, onto their devices, which can lead to data theft or financial loss. Additionally, users may be directed to phishing sites that mimic legitimate businesses, resulting in the exposure of sensitive information, such as login credentials, Social Security numbers, or credit card details. In some cases, SEO-poisoned websites might perform drive-by downloads, automatically installing malware without any user interaction.

Search engines combat SEO poisoning by continually refining their algorithms to better detect and penalize malicious sites. Some common measures include:

 

  1. Improving content analysis: Search engines can use machine learning to analyze website content for patterns typical of SEO poisoning, such as unnatural keyword density or irrelevant backlinks.
  2. Increased scrutiny of backlinks: Algorithms are now designed to evaluate the quality and relevance of backlinks to prevent link farm manipulation.
  3. Enhanced real-time monitoring: Search engines can employ bot detection and other monitoring techniques to spot unusual search behavior or spikes in keyword usage that might indicate an SEO poisoning attack.

Businesses can protect themselves from SEO poisoning by:

  1. Regularly auditing website security: Implementing measures like SSL certificates, web application firewalls (WAFs), and content security policies (CSPs) can help prevent their site from being hijacked.
  2.  Monitoring keyword rankings: Businesses should continuously track their search engine rankings and investigate sudden changes that may indicate SEO manipulation.
  3. Utilizing monitoring tools: Real-time security tools can detect unusual traffic patterns or sudden spikes in search traffic, which may point to SEO poisoning attempts.

Recovery from an SEO poisoning attack involves multiple steps:

  1.  Identifying and removing malicious content: Businesses need to thoroughly scan their website for any injected malware or compromised scripts and remove them.
  2.  Improving SEO hygiene: Post-attack, businesses should audit their SEO practices and remove any low-quality backlinks or suspicious content that may have been introduced.
  3. Strengthening security protocols: To prevent future attacks, businesses should bolster their security with measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA), stronger access controls, and real-time monitoring of search results and web traffic.
  4.  Notifying affected users: If users were compromised, businesses should alert them promptly, providing steps they can take to secure their accounts or recover lost data.

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