Google Search Console sent out another round of alerts to both WordPress users and Joomla users where they discovered that the site is running an older version of the CMS.
Here is what the alert looks like.
It gives sample URLs which is helpful if you have multiple installations of a CMS on a single site.
Google sent out emails to affected webmasters, but it will also show up in Google Search Console messages for the affected sites.
There does seem to be a bit of a delay. So if you have actually upgraded in the last month or so, the warning might be outdated. And if you did a custom or selective upgrade, Google might still see evidence of the older version and send a warning.
If you have upgraded or changed platforms, you don’t need to let Google know, and it doesn’t affect your search rankings to be using an outdated CMS. But if you end up getting hacked, which is much more likely to happen when you run an outdated version of WordPress, Joomla or any related plugins/addons, then that can affect your rankings. This is because Google can remove your site from the search if they discover it has been hacked, show the red alert interstitial or show the “This site may be hacked” flag in the search results.
If you did get an alert from Google, and you are running an outdated version, definitely consider upgrading.
Jennifer Slegg
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