Index infection

Foreign subpages in the Google index

A search for your own domain suddenly shows hundreds of subpages that do not exist on the website, often containing Japanese characters or brand names. This form of infection uses your domain’s reputation for third-party advertising.

There is nothing to see of this in the backend because the pages are generated dynamically.

Elias Arndt, WordPress expert from Schleswig
Elias Arndt

WordPress expert from Schleswig
★★★★★ 5,0 on Google

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How this infection works

The pages do not exist as posts. They are only generated when a search engine requests them.

Served only to search engines

The code checks who is requesting the URL. The Googlebot receives the advertising page, while a normal visitor is redirected or sees your actual page.

A separate sitemap

An additional sitemap is often created and submitted to Google so that the new URLs are added to the index as quickly as possible.

An additional account in Search Console

Attackers verify themselves as the domain owner in order to control the indexing process. This access must also be removed.

None of this is visible in the backend

None of this content appears under Pages or Posts because it is not stored in the regular content management system.

How to clean up the index

1

Determine the scope

An index query and Search Console are used to determine how many URLs are affected and what pattern they follow.

2

Remove the code generating the pages

The code is usually located in the .htaccess file, an injected PHP file and additionally in the database. All locations are cleaned up together.

3

Remove unauthorized access

Additional owners in Search Console, third-party sitemaps and created user accounts are deleted.

4

Request removal

The affected URLs are submitted for removal and then return the status code 404 or 410 so that Google permanently removes them from the index.

Transparent costs

Malware scan

50 €

plus VAT · one-time

If you commission the cleanup afterwards, the 50 € will be fully credited.

Most frequently chosen

Cleanup

280 €

plus VAT · fixed price, scan included

✓ Money-back guaranteeIf I can't clean the site, you pay nothing.

Ongoing support

from €65

per month, plus VAT.

The complete fine print:

  • All prices are plus 19 % VAT.
  • Orders processed on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays cost an additional one-time 100 € weekend surcharge.
  • Response and recovery times apply Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Outside these hours, I will respond as quickly as I can, but without a guarantee.
  • The time starts when I have received all the necessary access credentials – not from your first message.
  • I discuss special cases such as multiple sites in one installation, WooCommerce with ongoing orders or multisite with you beforehand and tell you the price before I start.

Frequently asked questions

Why don’t I see the pages when I visit them?

Because the code distinguishes between different requesters. Search engines receive the advertising page, while everyone else sees something different. It becomes visible when the request is made using the Googlebot identifier.

The technical cleanup is completed in one day. Depending on the scope, it takes two to six weeks for Google to remove all the URLs again. Removal requests can speed this up for the most important URLs.

Yes. Google rates the domain worse overall, and a larger-scale infection leads to a manual action. The sooner the cleanup is carried out, the smaller the impact will remain.

Google indexes more third-party pages every day

A call costs you nothing and takes five minutes. If it turns out to be a different problem, I will tell you that too.