If you use have Anti Virus on your device then the chances are you have seen, a tick, a cross, exclamation mark, or grey symbol at the end of search results. Or alternatively seen the symbol appear in your browser or a popup like that below. The symbol is to show that the website has either been checked by your anti-virus provider as safe, been checked by your anti-virus provider as unsafe, or to symbolize it is a website that has not been checked by your anti-virus. These symbols can impact your clickthrough rate, therefore it is important that you ensure you submit your website for anti-virus approval, and regularly check the status of your website with all of the main antivirus and device security providers.
What do the symbols on Search Result pages mean?
The exact meaning changes from provider to provider. However ‘Green’ typically means ‘Safe’, ‘Grey/White’ typically means the website is ‘Untested’, and ‘Red/Orange’ typically means ‘Caution/Unsafe/Insecure/Infected’. Below are the symbols currently used by Norton.
How to submit a website for anti-virus approval?
If your website is showing as ‘Untested’ by an anti-virus provider, it is likely that the provider just hasn’t come across your website yet. As a ‘Positive’ result can influence click-through rates, you can usually submit your URL directly to the relevant provider. Below are links to submit your website to some of the main anti-virus providers
Submit website to Norton Anti Virus – Submit
How to fix my website from showing as ‘UnSafe’?
If your website is showing as ‘Unsafe’, the first thing to do is to look at the full report. You will usually find a link to the report either next to the symbol or by clicking on it. The report will usually tell you what the issue is, such as ‘Malware’ found, not using encrypted protocols for forms, bad reputation, etc. Once you know the problem, you can then either correct it yourself or reach out to someone that can help.
Once you think you have resolved the problem, or if you think the issue doesn’t exist you can either:
a) Re-submit your website to the relevant provider.
b) Contact the provider directly or raise a ‘dispute’ with them to have the warning removed.
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