In the fight to protect searchers from Web sites serving malware or other harmful software, Google has partnered with StopBadware.org, a Cambridge-based organization dedicated to flagging such sites
and informing the general population about their activities. While these sites will show up in Google's search listings, users will not be able to link directly to them - prompted instead to visit the
StopBadware homepage to learn more.
Some sites that got "bad-listed," didn't set out to be malicious, landing on the banned list because the ad network or ad server that they chose
happened to be delivering tainted ads. In the case of smaller, less Web-savvy site owners, figuring out the connection between their ad server and the StopBadware listing isn't always obvious. The
Register's Dan Goodin gives specific examples of small businesses that were "bad-listed," the resulting traffic dips, and the steps they had to take to restore their site's reputation and revenue
stream.
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