6 ways to stop website spam attacks

SEO spam attacks are designed to damage your search rankings by injecting files packed with malicious keywords and backlinks. The people behind these attacks are not targeting you personally. They are trying to steal traffic from your site and redirect it to their own. For small businesses that depend on organic search to bring in customers, the consequences can be significant.

Cyber attacks are an increasingly common problem for small businesses online. These six steps can help you reduce the risk.

Use a CAPTCHA

Yes, CAPTCHAs can be irritating for customers. They are also one of the more reliable ways to stop bots from reaching your site in the first place. A CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) typically asks visitors to identify images or solve a short puzzle to prove they are human. Adding one to your login page, checkout and account sign-up forms makes it much harder for bots to flood your site with SEO spam.

If you run a WordPress site, our post on what CAPTCHA is and how it works covers the options in more detail.

Block spam comments

Spam comments are usually posted by bots and can carry malicious links that harm your site’s reputation with search engines. A web application firewall (WAF) sits between your website and incoming traffic, blocking malicious requests before they reach your server. Think of it as a filter that screens visitors before they get through the door. The better WAF solutions include a built-in CAPTCHA, which covers two of these steps at once.

Keep software and plugins up to date

Outdated software is one of the most common entry points for attackers. When a vulnerability is discovered in a plugin or CMS, developers release a patch. If you have not updated, that vulnerability stays open. Scheduling a regular check, whether weekly or fortnightly, means you catch updates before they become a problem rather than after.

For WordPress users, our post on how plugins compromise security explains why keeping them current matters and what to look for.

Remove add-ons and themes you no longer use

Unused plugins and themes do not disappear quietly. They sit on your server, stop receiving updates and become potential weak points. If a theme or add-on no longer serves a purpose on your site, remove it. Keeping your installation lean reduces the number of things that need maintaining and the number of places an attacker can probe.

Protect your email accounts

Never reply to spam emails, and treat any message from an unfamiliar sender with caution. Following a link in a spam email can expose your credentials or install malware on your machine. This is not just a personal risk. If a staff member’s account is compromised, attackers can use it to send spam from your domain, which damages your sender reputation and can get your email flagged or blocked.

Make sure your team knows not to reply to suspicious messages and not to follow links they were not expecting. A brief reminder goes a long way. Our post on recognising phishing attempts is worth sharing with anyone who handles business email.

Validate email and phone fields on your contact form

Bots filling in contact forms cannot distinguish between field types. They will drop whatever text they have into whichever field is available. By configuring your form to accept only properly formatted email addresses and phone numbers, you reject a large proportion of automated submissions before they reach your inbox. Most form plugins include validation options. If yours does not, it is worth switching to one that does.

A spam attack can have serious consequences for your business, from damaged search rankings to a compromised sender reputation. Addressing these areas now is far less disruptive than dealing with an attack after the fact.

If you are looking for hosting with security built in from the start, take a look at our secure hosting plans.

If you have questions about protecting your site, the UWH team is happy to help.