WordPress site redirecting to spam: a hidden backdoor diverting mobile visitors to a scam page

WordPress Site Redirecting to Spam? Find the Redirect and the Backdoor

If your WordPress site is redirecting to spam, it has been hacked. Malicious code on the server or in the database is sending some of your visitors to a scam page, often only phone users and logged-out guests. The redirect is only the symptom. The backdoor that planted it will put it back unless you find that too.

The short answer

  • A WordPress site redirecting to spam has been hacked; the redirect is a symptom of a backdoor, not a plugin setting.
  • Cloaking hides it from logged-in and desktop users, so test with a mobile user agent via curl and a phone on cellular data.
  • Check .htaccess or server config, home and siteurl in wp_options, theme JavaScript, the database, and plugins including mu-plugins.
  • Remove the backdoor, regenerate salts, change every password, purge every cache, then request a Google Search Console review.

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Japanese keyword hack illustration: a website showing a clean face to visitors and hidden spam pages to search crawlers

Japanese Keyword Hack: Spot It, Clean It, Purge It From Google

If Google shows Japanese titles and thousands of Japanese pages under your domain, your site has been hit by the Japanese keyword hack, not a translation glitch. A hidden script is generating those pages for search engines only, and they will keep coming back until you remove the code and the backdoor behind it.

The short answer

  • Japanese pages in Google under your domain almost always mean the Japanese keyword hack: a server-side script generating cloaked spam for crawlers.
  • Deleting the visible pages does nothing. Remove the generator, the backdoor and the stolen credentials first, or the spam returns within hours.
  • Don't block spam URLs in robots.txt. Let Googlebot see 404 or 410 Gone, then use Search Console Removals as a temporary stopgap.
  • File a reconsideration request only if Search Console shows a manual action, and only after the site is verifiably clean.

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