Might be there are some iframe contents there on your site.
Will you post the URLs for your site and the link Google is concerned with?
Hi the link they had a problem with is the following … as I said its just a 404
[code moderated]
Thats just one address by the way.
WOW! How would you like to type that with no errors?
I find the nature of the link troubling. But in Googling site:www.psychologyquotes.com, I don’t find any spam entries. You may want to doublecheck my work. The link looks only slightly like a hack.
By definition, the link that AdWords wants removed has been removed. You can also try using link removal in Webmaster Tools at Dashboard > Google Index > Remove URLs. I say try because of the length of the link and the fact that it is not showing as indexed may prevent you from entering the URL.
I found a RBL hit for your site at http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/psychologyquotes.com. You will want to contact McAfee about getting your URL removed from their Phishing list.
AdWords may be basing their complaint solely on the McAfee listing. After you get off the bad list, I would send an email to AdWords and ask that they reconsider your site.
Hi wslade,
Thanks for your response. I have already contacted McAfee. Unfortunately the person who owned this domain before me had gotten the domain name into a bit of trouble by the look of things.
Google originally had the same rating as McAfee but they have rechecked it and removed the blacklisting a year ago. McAfee have not been so quick to respond on the matter.
I’m baffled by the link myself. I just tried removing it on webmaster tools and as you predicted I just got “incorrectly formatted URL” error.
To bad about McAfee not removing the blacklist. Perhaps it would the worth the price of a letter from an attorney explaining the ownership change? If I can find the Phishing Black Mark, so can others.
As for AdWords, you can truthfully respond that the link is no longer there and ask them to reconsider. You may want to be proactive and mention the ownership change and that Google had found your site to be safe. (I know from my experience that the spam group and AdWords departments at Google do not communicate well with each other.)
Good luck.
Yes it’s a shame that it has the blacklisting but I’m still hoping they will get back to me on it. I’ll give them a bit more time and then see where I need to go with it.
Google were fantastically quick. Even adwords have been very nice about the whole situation though as you say the page doesn’t exist. They emailed me a screenshot of the 404 screen to show me what they saw and they still asked me to remove the page??
It’s probably some kind of canned phrase they stick in an email. You might ask them for clarification about what they want to see. Maybe they want to see a 301 or something different from your 404?
If as an example, they do want a 301 response, you can provide the 301 server response and redirect to your index page. You can do this in .htaccess.
Thats a good point. I’ve just sent them an email so I’ll let you know when they reply. The fact that they didn’t notice the 404 confuses things. Hopefully their next email will clarify things.
Thanks again for the suggestions they are very helpful.
Your welcome – I’m just guessing at what Google is wanting. But that seems to be what one does when dealing with Google. The idea of a straightforward answer is a concept yet to be discovered at Google.
Just an update on this. Adwords wrote the following about the redirect … ” The issue won’t be fixed if you redirect the link to main page. The issue here is not with the page, it is with the malware affected to the page. The issue can be only fixed, if the malware is removed from the source code.”
So … any ideas what I should try with this?
Really? You are aware there are alternatives to AdWords? š
I have to think the blacklist at McAfee is playing a part in this. Possibly it is time for another appeal to McAfee? Do you have any proof of the date that McAfee blacklisted your domain?
They should know the date, but you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot. If you have proof of the blacklist date, then use records to prove you were not the domain owner at the time it was blacklisted. Show emails proving when you registered the domain. Also DNS history will sometimes show changes in ownership. But you need to know the date the domain was first blacklisted or leave this part out.
Go to https://www.phishtank.com/ and make a screen shot showing your site currently has no Phishing issues. McAfee does say it is a Phishing issue.
Go to http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=http://www.psychologyquotes.com and make a screenshot.
Go to every site you can find that contain lists of blacklists. Make screenshots of the results showing your domain is not listed.
Before you send McAfee all this info, it may be worth a phone call. Try to find a consumer advocate or affairs department. Sometimes the company president’s office has a staff for consumer complaints. Try to talk to a person even if you have to leave your call back info. Tell your story and then followup with all your documentation for the person you speak with.
If you can’t get McAfee to remove you, there’s nothing to loose by taking these same steps with AdWords.
Hi,
So I contacted McAfee again and I’ll see what happens with them. If google is flagging it because of them that would be interesting. You’d imagine that they would be using their own service but there you go.
I’ll keep you posted on how this plays out. Should be an interesting one.
As always thanks for the suggestions.
Your best ammunition to use against AdWords is their own company saying your site is safe. BUT they use different spiders and algos and I know from experience the departments don’t communicate with each other.
