Have you ever been hacked? If you have then take a few moments to listen to the critical information that Matt Curtis, software engineer at Google offers here in “What do I do after being hacked? “.

In short, a web consultant has asked how to get Google to reconsider lost ranking/spam classification after a client was unknowingly hacked and more than 30,000 links to Cialis/Viagra sales sites embedded in their website. Sadly, the SEO service company for the client had claimed the website fully purged before it truly was, resulting in a rejected reconsideration.

Matt Curtis recommends further screening methodologies for the site to ensure the offending links and keywords are well and truly gone, including reviewing the keywords in the webmaster tool console, and going actively to the webmaster forum to see if any of the forum members can find overlooked hacks. Google actively maintains sites communicating recent hacks and the patches required to protect against them in WordPress and other common web platforms.

Finally, when a site has been checked and rechecked for residual potential spam, porn and other unsavory content, the hole patched and security re-established, then and only then does he recommend another request for reconsideration.