~75 Scam Pages Cleared From a Hacked Plumber Site
Act Fast Plumbing is an emergency plumber in Geelong, with same-day service, drain cleaning, hot water and gas plumbing. I've looked after Grant's website since June 2023, after it was hacked.
The results
The rankings and the scam page count come from my own checks, and the load time from a GTmetrix test in June 2023. Rankings move from day to day.
Page 1
Kept there on Google
For "plumbers geelong" and "hot water service geelong".
75
Scam pages gone
Google dropped about 75 from its index.
~1s
Load time
The site loaded in about a second.
Where it started
Grant came to me in May 2023 after his website was hacked. I didn't build it, so the job was to clean it up, move it somewhere safe and keep it on page one.
What I do
- I removed the malware and cleared out the scam pages, and Google dropped about 75 of them from its index within days.
- I moved the site to Rocket.net in June 2023 with Cloudflare in front, and added two-factor login so a stolen password alone can't get in.
- I did the on-page SEO, with titles and headings on each page, internal links for "plumber geelong" searches and Rank Math.
- I sped the site up with lighter fonts and fewer animations, so it loaded in about a second in my June 2023 GTmetrix test.
- I update the site every month, taking a Rocket.net backup first, across WordPress, Betheme and Contact Form 7.
- I added email-spoofing reports and certificate records to the domain name in October 2026, so I can see who sends email using his domain.
- I send a report every month with the updates I've done.
Written by Max Jacobs
I'm a civil engineer turned web designer, based in Geelong, VIC. I've built websites and run marketing since 2015, and I don't hand the work to juniors: the person you email does it.
The services behind this work: website care plans and SEO for tradies.
More trade case studiesTell me about your business
I'll reply with what I'd do and what it costs.
Start your enquiryI look at your site and Google listing first.