Google Proxy Hack - Part 2

As I mentioned in a previous post, Google is susceptible to a proxy hack that can wipe sites off the SERPs, and do all sorts of other nasty things, as well.

Naturally, my client is not the only one with this problem - it's a well known issue with Google and has been for almost a year. Based on how long it took them to address the 302 Hijack, I'm not holding my breath for a quick fix on Proxy Hijacking, either.

Dan Thies posted a great article on this issue, so I'll link to it rather than repeat the information in it. The takeaway is that it's a real issue, and it's not that easy to solve from a victims standpoint.

The easy fix is to block the IP of the proxy. This only works if the issue was accidental and only one proxy.

If it's a case of someone deliberately gunning for you, then don't expect any help from Google. In this case, you need to get a bit more fancy. There are several different methods, all of which could be countered, but Jaimie Sirovich wrote a nice script to do what is basically reverse cloaking, feeding the normal pages to search engines and putting noindex,nofollow on pages sent to everyone else (including, hopefully, proxies).

I hate proxy hackers. Proxies are a useful part of the internet, and people who abuse them in this way are NOT "pointing out flaws in Google to make them better", they are simply people who don't understand that pissing in your own well water is stupid, and they deserve nothing but contempt.

Ian