What is URL Blacklist?

While browsing the internet, you might notice that some of the websites you try to visit are blocked by your browser or antivirus programs. The blocked URLs will be shown as "URL: Blacklist."

Google blocks about 10,000 suspicious URLs every day because of numerous reasons. In this post, we would know what URL Blacklist is, why a URL is blacklisted, and how to prevent a URL from getting blacklisted.

What is URL Blacklist?

Major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others block URLs or remove them from their indexes on the ground of being malicious or conducting suspicious activities. By backlisting the websites, the search engines protect their users from various dangerous threats such as phishing attacks, malware attacks, email spam, DDoS attacks, and more.

Many times web shield of different antiviruses might also display the URL: Blacklist warning when you visit such URLs. It is because antivirus programs like Avast scan websites for determining their security level and, based on it, allow or disallow them.

To summarize, URL Blacklisting is a process in which search engines and/or security programs block websites on the browser because of their suspicious behavior and protect users from malicious intents.

Why is a URL Blacklisted?

Search engines always work to make the browsing experience of their users secure and safe. They never want to lose their user base on account of malicious websites harming their system.

For this, the search engines thoroughly examine websites and blacklist their URL if they possess any security threats.

Here are the top reasons a search engine can blacklist a URL −

• A website promoting Phishing scams

• A website luring users by offering fake offers

• A URL beginning with HTTP and storing user data

• A website promoting malware program downloads

• A website illegally using web trackers to gather sensitive browsing information.

• A website that is automatically downloading the suspicious application on the system without user permission.

• A website running on a vulnerable server

• The Webhosting is unrecognized

How to check if a URL is Blacklisted?

Many times you as an owner might not even know that your site is blacklisted. If you want to check whether the URL of your website is blacklisted or not, you can visit the Google Safe Browsing page and type the URL on the search box to know its status.

How to prevent a URL from getting blacklisted?

If you are a business owner and your business highly depends on your website, a URL: Blacklist from any search engine might hugely impact your business. Your website could be hijacked by cyberattackers and intentionally made vulnerable to cyber attacks so that search engines can blacklist it. Here are the top tips to prevent the URL of your website from being blacklisted −

• Keep your website updated with the latest security measures. If a website is equipped with outdated plugins and themes, cyber attackers can exploit it and make it malicious.

• Get a reliable hosting platform for your website. The hosting platform plays an essential role in maintaining the security and privacy of a website.

• Install an SSL certificate for your website to secure it with HTTPS and make it look authentic.

• If you use the WordPress platform, make sure all your plugins, libraries, and other addons are regularly updated. Also, ensure that WordPress is updated to the latest version.