SEO Spam Hack: How We Removed 124K Fake Pages from Google
We recently helped a client recover from a severe SEO spam injection — a case where their site looked normal on the surface, but Google had indexed over 124,000 rogue pages promoting fake Japanese products.
Here’s what happened, and how we fixed it:
The Symptoms: Everything Looked Fine… Until You Googled It
On the site itself, there were only 44 visible pages. No suspicious links, no content changes.
But in Google Search Console, we saw something strange:
- 124K pages indexed
- 166K not indexed
- Japanese snippets appearing in Google’s search results
Even though the site looked untouched, the malware had injected pages that only Google could see. These pages weren’t listed in the sitemap, but were showing up in search — classic cloaked SEO spam.
The Fix: Step by Step
🔄 1. Restore From Backup
We rolled the site back to a clean backup version.
To verify it was safe, we reindexed a test page in Google Search Console — and the spammy Japanese snippet disappeared. ✅
🚫 2. Remove Malicious Pages from Google
Next, we dug into the spam URLs and found common patterns:
https://website.co.uk/?rhttps://website.co.uk/?shopdetail/
We used the Google Search Console Removals Tool to block these URL patterns from appearing in search results.
🔍 3. Validate With a Site Search
Using the site: operator (e.g. site:website.co.uk), we confirmed that Google was now only indexing clean, legitimate content. No more product spam in sight.
Locking the Doors Behind Us
Once the site was clean, we made sure it stayed that way:
🔐 All admin and hosting passwords were reset
🛡️ MFA enabled via WordFence
🧹 Unnecessary plugins removed
♻️ Auto-updates switched on for themes and plugins
Why This Matters
SEO injection attacks are sneaky. They don’t always break your site visually — but they abuse your domain authority to rank fake pages in search results. If left alone, it can damage your site’s reputation and ranking.
If your site is showing unusual search snippets or bloated indexing stats, it’s worth investigating — even if everything looks fine on the surface.
🚨 Need Help?
We’ve cleaned up SEO spam, malware infections, brute-force attacks, and more. Whether it’s a quick audit or a full recovery job — we’re here to help.
Let’s get your site back on track.
