More Safe Browsing Help for Webmasters

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Crossposted from the
Google Security Blog.

For more than
nine years, Safe Browsing
has helped webmasters via Search Console with information about how to fix security issues with
their sites. This includes relevant Help Center articles, example URLs to assist in diagnosing the
presence of harmful content, and a process for webmasters to request reviews of their site after
security issues are addressed. Over time, Safe Browsing has expanded its protection to cover
additional threats to user safety such as
Deceptive Sites
and
Unwanted Software.

To help webmasters be even more successful in resolving issues, we’re happy to announce that we’ve
updated the information available in Search Console in the Security Issues report.

The updated information provides more specific explanations of six different security issues
detected by Safe Browsing, including
malware,
deceptive pages,
harmful downloads, and
uncommon downloads.
These explanations give webmasters more context and detail about what Safe Browsing found. We also
offer tailored recommendations for each type of issue, including sample URLs that webmasters can
check to identify the source of the issue, as well as specific remediation actions webmasters can
take to resolve the issue.

We on the Safe Browsing team definitely recommend
registering
your site in Search Console even if it is not currently experiencing a security issue. We send
notifications through Search Console so webmasters can address any issues that appear
as quickly as possible.

Our goal is to help webmasters provide a safe and secure browsing experience for their users. We
welcome any questions or feedback about the new features on the
Google Webmaster Help Forum,
where
Top Contributors
and Google employees are available to help.

For more information about Safe Browsing’s ongoing work to shine light on the state of web
security and encourage safer web security practices, check out our summary of trends and findings
on the
Safe Browsing Transparency Report.
If you’re interested in the tools Google provides for webmasters and developers dealing with
hacked sites, this
video provides a great
overview.

Posted by Kelly Hope Harrington, Safe Browsing Team