Cybersecurity is bound to become one of the most important aspects of SEO. Nothing is secure, and webmasters should be paying extra attention to cyber protection in the future. Small businesses are no safer than big businesses and are at a disadvantage as they will not have nearly as many funds to invest in a very advanced security system. However, small security measures can go a long way towards protecting websites and their data, including the very personal information that users entrust said websites with. Skimping in this aspect in any way will only result in a steep decline in traffic, a hit in reputation, and loss of revenue.

But is Cybersecurity SEO’s responsibility?

The days of compartmentalized responsibility are gone. Security is now the responsibility of all stakeholders. As such, SEOs will have to take security measures on their end as well. Security might well have to be at the forefront of all SEO strategies in the coming days. The Search Console will send you critical website notifications such as vulnerability and hacking warnings that you need to pay attention to. If you’re an SEO professional, you don’t ever want to receive the dreaded ‘in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines ‘notification on your (or your client’s) Search Console dashboard.

The Future is HTTPS

Or more accurately, the future is Mobile. But Google is aggressively promoting HTTPS over HTTP, which means any delay in due to upgrading will only prove costlier. This becomes all the more relevant for those websites which collect personal data or passwords. Websites serving content over the secure HTTPS protocol have been given a ranking boost since 2014. Google Chrome (which owns ~55% of the desktop browser market) is visibly branding websites as secure.
However, security in SEO goes beyond HTTPS; there is often a misconception that HTTPS secures a website – when in reality an SSL certificate only secures a connection and encrypts data in transit.

Establishing a website’s vulnerabilities is a skillset to SEO

In this day and age websites must be secured ahead of time. SEOs will be required to have a functioning knowledge of cybersecurity to be able to get a handle on things.

1 ) It is imperative for SEOs to determine whether the website of a new client they’re considering to take on was subjected to a hack or not. While Google now says they will flag malicious redirects they identify via Google Search Console, you still can’t rely on Google as your only indicator as to whether the site has been compromised. If an unexplained drop in traffic or rankings is seen, hacking should be considered. Observing Search Console anomalies is useful too.

2 ) SEOs must take into consideration the vulnerability of search performance of the website to external hacks.

3 ) Google could also include known vulnerabilities that aren’t platform-specific in their passive scans, such as the OWASP Top 10. The OWASP updates each year and identifies the top 10 flaws that are being exploited by hackers. The SEO should stay on top of their recommendations and updates. If the website is running open source software, it’s important that it’s kept up-to-date and updated to the latest version.

Conclusion

Seeing trends in the industry it’s clear that website security is a topic that’s going to be here for a while. It’s also important that as an industry we help educate clients about the potential risks, not only to SEO but also to their businesses. Security threats and search engine penalties are critical issues that can hurt your rankings and your bottom line. You need to avoid them from the outset. To achieve great SEO results, you need to ensure that your website is well-protected and properly optimized.