Thread by @noelcetaSEO

A hacked website can destroy traffic, rankings, and revenue almost overnight.

One site saw 12,000 spam pages indexed, a 73% ranking drop, and revenue plunge to near zero.

Here's the 90-day recovery that restored everything: 🧵👇

1/ The crisis situation:

Day 0 discovery:

What happened:

- WordPress site compromised
- 12,000 spam pages created automatically
- Japanese gambling spam injected
- Rankings dropped 73% over 2 weeks
- Google Safe Browsing warning displayed
- Traffic: 55K sessions/month → 15K

Revenue impact: $180K/month → $48K/month

Client called in panic mode.

2/ Day 1-3: Stop the bleeding:

Immediate actions:

Hour 1: Take site offline temporarily

- Prevent further damage
- Stop spam page creation
- Assess scope

Hour 2-4: Identify entry point

- Found outdated plugin (not updated 2 years)
- Malicious code injected through vulnerability

Hour 5-8: Clean infected files

- Removed malicious code
- Deleted spam pages (all 12,000)
- Restored from clean backup (partial)

Day 2-3: Security hardening

- Updated all plugins/themes
- Changed all passwords
- Installed security plugin (Wordfence)
- Set up monitoring

Site back online: 72 hours after discovery.

3/ Week 1: Google communication:

Clearing blacklist:

Day 4: Request malware review

- Submitted reconsideration in GSC
- Documented all cleanup actions
- Listed security measures implemented

Day 5-7: Monitor status

- Google reviewed within 48 hours
- Malware warning removed
- Safe Browsing cleared

But rankings still down 73%. Traffic still at 15K.

Real recovery work begins now.

4/ Week 2-3: Spam URL cleanup:

Deindexing bad pages:

Challenge: 12,000 spam URLs still in Google index

Solution sequence:

- Created list of all spam URLs
- Returned 410 Gone status (not 404)
- Submitted removal requests in GSC (bulk)
- Created updated sitemap (clean URLs only)
- Disavowed spam domains linking to spam pages

Progress: 8,400 spam pages removed from index by week 3.

5/ Week 4-5: Content restoration:

Fixing legitimate pages:

Issues found:

- 80 legitimate pages affected by hack
- Spam text injected into footers
- Hidden links added to content
- Meta descriptions corrupted

Cleanup process:

- Manually reviewed all 80 pages
- Removed injected spam
- Restored original content
- Verified clean code

Quality check: Each page manually inspected.

6/ Week 6-7: Link profile analysis:

Addressing damage:

New toxic backlinks from hack:

- 240 spam links acquired during hack period
- Links to spam pages created
- Links from malware networks

Actions:

- Exported all backlinks
- Identified hack-related links (240)
- Created disavow file
- Submitted to GSC

Protecting authority from spam link association.

7/ Week 8-9: Content enhancement:

Rebuilding trust signals:

Enhanced top 30 pages:

- Added 300-500 words per page
- Updated statistics and examples
- Improved formatting
- Added FAQ sections with schema
- Strengthened E-E-A-T signals

Showing Google: Site is active, maintained, legitimate.

8/ Week 10-11: Technical optimization:

Performance improvements:

Site speed: 4.2 seconds → 1.8 seconds

- Image optimization
- Caching configured
- CDN implemented

Core Web Vitals: All passing
Mobile: Fully responsive
Security: SSL, HTTPS enforced

Technical excellence signals site health.

9/ Week 12-13: Recovery acceleration:

Results emerging:

Traffic progression:

- Week 8: 18K sessions (20% recovery)
- Week 10: 26K sessions (47% recovery)
- Week 12: 38K sessions (69% recovery)
- Week 13: 44K sessions (80% recovery)

Rankings improving:

- Top keywords returning to page 1
- Long-tail rankings recovering faster
- Brand searches fully recovered

Not 100% yet, but trajectory positive.

10/ Month 4 (Final recovery phase):

Reaching pre-hack levels:

Actions:

- Published 12 new articles (show activity)
- Acquired 8 quality backlinks (rebuild authority)
- Continued content updates
- Maintained technical excellence

Results by Day 90:

- Traffic: 52K sessions (95% of baseline)
- Rankings: 90% of keywords recovered
- Revenue: $165K/month (92% of baseline)

Full recovery: Achieved by Month 4 (120 days total).

11/ Prevention measures implemented:

Never again:

Security protocols:

- Weekly automated backups (stored offsite)
- Plugin/theme auto-updates enabled
- Security monitoring active (Wordfence)
- Access limited (removed unused accounts)
- Strong passwords enforced (password manager)

Monitoring:

- Daily uptime checks
- Weekly security scans
- Monthly access reviews

Cost: $100/month in security tools
Value: Prevented recurrence.

12/ Crisis recovery worked because:

✓ Fast response (site offline within hours)
✓ Thorough cleanup (all malicious code removed)
✓ Google communication (proactive reconsideration)
✓ Spam URL removal (bulk 410 status)
✓ Content restoration (80 pages fixed)
✓ Link profile cleaning (240 toxic links disavowed)
✓ Content enhancement (trust signals rebuilt)
✓ Technical optimization (performance improved)
✓ Prevention implemented (security hardened)

Timeline: 90 days to 95% recovery
Investment: 120 hours crisis work + $3K in security/cleanup
Result: Revenue restored from $48K to $165K/month

Hacks are recoverable with systematic approach.

Speed of action determines recovery speed.