Have You Checked Your Website's Security Lately?

What is having a website all about behind the scenes? Having a website is not all about SEO, traffic, linking, content and conversions. You have to be aware of how safe your site is for the people who visit it and also how secure our own information is. If you can’t provide a safe space on the web, you can’t expect to do much business.

Website security is not directly linked to SEO, but it can and will affect the traffic rate to your websites and that is something that will get attention every time. No one likes to consider losing traffic or missing out on traffic over something that can be easily addressed. Online users that don’t feel comfortable and safe using your websites will hesitate to visit or to make a purchase assuming they ever do stop by your site. This can obviously cripple your ability to turn a profit which is why you are in business – to make money!

When a website is not secure, hackers can take advantage of the loopholes in the website’s security and use it for their own purposes. This is an everyday occurrence on the web, and hackers know how to get around cheesy security systems. Several things they might try to do to breach a site include:

* They can install scripts and malicious software
* They can steal important info about your site
* They can take customer information and defraud them

The last thing anyone wants is for innocent users to visit a website only to find out their computers got infected with viruses or spyware. Either could be installed fairly easily, thus converting their computers into spam generating machines. Similarly,  it could be your system that is hacked and actions taken in your name that could destroy your site and get you banned from search engines. Some black hatters are not above linking stuff to your site to make you look bad or sending out spam from your website to get you in trouble. There are even people that pay to have this done to their competition.

If you are even just suspected for hosting such harmful programs,  could ban you or place warnings next to your listing which could lead to people not clicking on your site. Few people still visit a site after the huge warning page with a stop sign shows up – that’s just fact. This is commonly seen when a display comes up stating that a ‘website may harm your computer’.. No one in their right mind will go ahead and visit your website after reading such a warning.

This results in no traffic. That results in all the work and money you put in on your website and all your SEO efforts being ruined. All from an insecure website which could have been avoided.

If you make it to the top of Google, be aware that hackers target highly ranked sites to bring them down – or to spread malware since they know you will get lots of traffic. It is just a matter of playing the odds. If they get you, you will  lose positions and PR quickly as your website becomes publicly known for installing malware and people stop coming.

If you work hard to get top rankings in Google and other major search engines, you should put equal effort into site security.  Don’t reach the top only to fall victim to a hacker because you have made it easy for them to plant their malicious programs in your site. Be smart! If needed, hire professionals to check your website’s security.