Who is placing pieces of code into my site??? Is it MOZ bot??

Immanuel

For certain tools to work there has to be some code to track what's going on. Doesn't mean it is malicious, you most likely opted in at one stage or another?

Ltsmz

I haven't opted in anywhere.

I guess all I need to do is getting rid of YOAST plugin to remove all that rubbish that it sneakily puts on your website.

Anyone has any other better idea?

LesleyPaone

There are basically 3 options with this. But I think I know what the answer is.

Your site has been hacked.
You are running a google chrome plugin that is doing it
You have wordpress plugins doing it.

I think the 3rd choice is more than likely what is happening. But given the code that you pasted, being so close to the admin bar div, I would suggest that they are tool bar links for wordpress. The way to tell for sure is to open your site either when you are not logged in, or in an incognito window. Then look at the source from there. If the links are still there, you can post your site for one of us to take a look at or you can pm your site address and I will take a look at it.

Ltsmz

Hey Lesley,

first thank you very much for your reply.

I've tried to open an incognito/private window and looked at the source code from there and those links disappeared.

I'm guessing it's a plugin. I'm actually quite sure it's the SEO plugin by yoast. But I've also found some other pieces of code inside my own posts!
ANd they do belong to MOZ:

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p">How did this thing end up in my posts?</a>

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p">I think we are dealing with two different things, and while I guess I just need to delete YOAST plugin, I've no intention to manually remove all those</a><a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="from" my="" posts="" (there="" are="" hundreds="" of="" them)<="" p=""></a>

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="from" my="" posts="" (there="" are="" hundreds="" of="" them)<="" p="">Thanks</a>

Ltsmz

Hi Keri,

what about this:

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p">My posts are full of them. How did this code end up inside my posts? It doesn't make any sense...</a>

LynnPatchett

I think you are getting confused by the wordpress default site functionality. The admin bar you see in your site is only visible when you are logged in as an administrator. Normal visitors to the site do not see this bar or code. You can disable this feature even for admin users by going to Users in the left hand admin menu, editing the user and deselecting 'show toolbar when viewing site'. So, it is not code being injected into your site in the way you think, it is just admin functionality you are seeing when you are logged in!

There is no need to worry in other words!

LesleyPaone

See you could also be running the SEO moz plugin, in chrome it looks like this in your toolbar http://screencast.com/t/Pm04s9JM

The way that plugins like this work is that inject code into the browser, not the actual webpage. Like when I go to google and search for something it looks like this http://screencast.com/t/ql4agJROUxX See those little things with the arrows are from SEO moz's tool bar. When I look at the source I see this http://screencast.com/t/tNBDy20AiC9K It looks like MOZ has edited the page, but they really haven't their plugin just manipulated it client side. Which in all reality if you are running the plugin, it is what you want to be happening. You might try to look at the site in another browser that you don't normally use, then it will not have the plugins that you use enabled and you can get a clearer view of what is actually on the site.

Ltsmz

Hey Lesley,

thanks for your reply, and for taking the time to do the screenshots but I'm not using any add-on at all. I did use them in the past and know how they look like.

When I open one of my posts and pages and go to edit them in "text mode" I find inside my own posts these pieces of code:<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p"></a>

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p">They are inside my posts and I have deleted some of them manually, but there are so many that I really would like someone from MOZ to tell me:</a>

<a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" title="</p">1) How and who gave them permission to put that stuff inside my own posts

how to get rid of them

The other problem was with the source code, but I guess YOAST sells website's datas to SEO companies through is SEO plugin and I simply need to get rid of that rubbish.</a>

Ltsmz

Thanks but you haven't understood the question at all.

LesleyPaone

Any chance you can send me a link to your site at lesley@dh42.com I would like to check it out. From my side if either is actually injecting code it would be a big breach of trust.

LynnPatchett

Im pretty sure I did....

'wp-admin-bar-wpseo-kwdensity' and 'class="ab-item"' indicate that this is code related with the wordpress admin bar. If you are logged into wordpress as an admin you will see this bar (black bar at the top of the page) when you view the site also. Did you try deselecting the 'show toolbar when viewing site' I mentioned above? When you do that do you still see the 'injected' code? I suspect not.....

Yoast and his seo plugin are both very welll known and respected, it doesn't just inject code into a site so that is why I say I think you are misinterpreting what you are seeing.

As for the a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow", as Leslie says this is because you have the moz toolbar installed in your browser and have chosen to highlight no follow links in the options. Deselect this option and you will not see this code anymore. If you like, look at the google cache of any of your pages.... they will have neither of the code snippets you are worried about in them.

KeriMorgret

Like others have mentioned, it's most likely the Moz toolbar. I have a personal Wordpress site myself, and will sometimes see one of my plugins try to write code to the compose window instead of activate like it should (such as I try to use Easy Gestures, and instead of performing an action, I suddenly get code like that in my post or page).

I've asked our associate Dan Shure to look at this question, as he's one of our experts in Wordpress, and he'll be able to give you some additional insight.

Ltsmz

I'm not using the toolbar at all.

I used it a few months ago and uninstalled it back then.

Does that mean I'll keep having that code inside my posts forever? Please take a look at the screenshot.

http://imgur.com/a/wT9kW

Thanks

Ltsmz

I'm sorry Lesley, but I'd rather avoid that.

But you can take a look at these screenshots

http://imgur.com/a/wT9kW

Ltsmz

Hi,

thanks.

Please take a look at the screenshot.

I do not have any moz bar installed.
If davidnaylor, seobook and opensiteexplorer are not tracking my website's date, what are those names doing in my website's code?

What's the whole purpose of it? Backlinks? Do they just like it or what?

http://imgur.com/a/wT9kW

Thanks for your help

Masoko-T

Hi Fabio

I think Lynn is right.

But do try the following,

Use Firefox in safe mode ( see : http://mzl.la/MWQFPn ) this will ensure that any plugins / toolbars / extensions that you MIGHT or MIGHT NOT have installed on your browser are definetely turned off. If you have Chrome, follow these instructions: http://bit.ly/aEniLx
Then go to your website and MAKE SURE YOU'RE LOGGED OFF your wordpress backoffice interface.
Now look at the source code of your site.

Are the suspicious links gone?

We could probably be able to help you better and a lot faster if you published your URL or at least send it to one of us by PM.

evolvingSEO

Hi Fabio

Sorry to hear of your troubles! Dan here, Moz Associate.

What you are seeing is totally normal.

Your screenshot with the source code is an exact match of the links in the WordPress Toolbar (with Yoast SEO installed). Check out the screenshot ----> http://screencast.com/t/rTuVFDihy

There is no question it is the code from Yoast in the WordPress toolbar. If you go to: yoursite/wp-admin/profile.php - you can toggle this WordPress toolbar on and off by clicking "Show toolbar when viewing site".

Look, I get the same code on my site --> http://screencast.com/t/ds75k6wxq - again, you will only see this code IF you are logged in, have the toolbar enabled, and Yoast installed.

Regular users do not see this code, and Google does not see this code. This is 100% normal behavior and nothing to worry about. They are not tracking you, or getting links.

If you prefer to not have the code in your source code when logged in, you can disable the WordPress toolbar.

-Dan

Ltsmz

Thanks Dan,

I guess you never stop learning...

But what about the SEOmoz code inside my posts? Did you take a look at them in the screenshots I've attached before?

PS. I've unistalled the moz toolbar more than 3 months ago.

Thanks

evolvingSEO

Fabio

No problem! As far as the moz code in your posts, I am not entirely sure to be honest. That is definitely a separate issue from the wordpress toolbar.

Few questions;

Does that code then end up on your posts and source code? Or is it only showing in the text editor in wordpress?
If you delete it from the editor, and hit update, does it show back up again?
Does it always show up, in every new post or page - and if so, at what point, right away?

-Dan

Ltsmz

Hi,

Yes the code end up both inside my posts and in the source code.
If I delete it from the text editor it disappears from the source code too and when I refresh it doesn't show up anymore
It shows up every time I add no-follow to a link right next to the nofollow attribute. I'm using the Ultimate Nofollow plugin if that matter.

Thanks

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