A a company's website traffic collapsed after a dismissed SEO contractor allegedly sabotaged its search presence. According to Scott Mazza, co-founder of Vitality CBD, the contractor retained backend access after being fired and retaliated by deindexing approximately 200 product pages and blog posts. The result was a 90% drop in organic search traffic, severely affecting sales and demonstrating how vulnerable businesses can be when website permissions and access controls are not properly managed.
Before the dispute, the contractor had reportedly relied on black-hat SEO practices, including publishing keyword-stuffed AI-generated content, purchasing low-quality backlinks, and using manipulative optimization techniques that failed to deliver sustainable results. While these tactics may produce short-term gains, they increase the risk of search engine penalties and can damage a website's long-term visibility. The incident highlights the importance of choosing SEO partners who follow ethical, search engine–approved practices rather than shortcuts.
After discovering the sabotage, the company began rebuilding its online presence by restoring deindexed pages, removing harmful backlinks, improving technical SEO, and creating high-quality original content. It also strengthened internal security by auditing user accounts, restricting administrative privileges, and immediately revoking access for former contractors. These steps helped recover search visibility while reducing the likelihood of similar incidents in the future.
The article concludes that SEO should be treated as both a marketing function and a security responsibility. Businesses should carefully vet external agencies, maintain full ownership of domains and website accounts, use role-based permissions, enable multi-factor authentication, and regularly review access logs. As AI-generated content and outsourced digital marketing become more common, strong governance and access management are just as important as SEO strategy for protecting a company's online presence and reputation.
