What is spam?
The negative term spam covers all electronic messages such as emails or text messages, which in most cases are advertising messages. These emails usually end up in the spam folder of traditional email providers and are ignored by users, even if they end up in the right mailbox. Spam can be recognized very quickly by a trained eye and similarities to other advertising messages can often be found. In the field of online marketing, there are also some methods of search engine optimization that can be described as spam.
How can spam be recognized?
Many e-mail programs are already designed to recognize spam. Even a simple mail program can recognize spam messages, as the structure is very similar in many cases. In most cases, the subject line is very general, the recipient of the e-mail is not addressed directly and cryptic characters can be found in the sender’s address. The sender often pretends to be an employee or managing director. On closer inspection, however, it is not uncommon to realize that the e-mail originates from a freemail address and was not sent from a company account.
Nowadays, well-known and established e-mail programs can already detect spam messages very quickly and easily. This means that the emails no longer end up in the correct main mailbox. The messages are moved directly to a separate spam folder, which can also be checked manually. Sometimes important messages that do not have a direct advertising purpose still end up in the spam folder. It is therefore worth taking a look at the spam folder in your own e-mail program at regular intervals.
How are e-mail addresses collected for spam purposes?
Since an email address is usually private and cannot be found everywhere on the Internet, advertisers need methods to obtain as many email addresses as possible from potential customers in the event of spam. This is where so-called spambots come into play. Spambots are programs that search the Internet for e-mail addresses and compile them in a list. This is an easy way for senders of spam e-mail addresses to obtain contact lists. The lists created can then be used for various advertising purposes.
What does spam mean in search engine optimization?
In addition to classic spam, which primarily affects the end user and their email inbox, there is also spam known as spamdexing. The purpose of this spam is to manipulate search engines and fake the relevance of a page. Its use is usually excluded in the search engine guidelines, but many site operators do not adhere to the guidelines and try to achieve a better position on Google through spamdexing.
How can spam be prevented?
If you want to protect yourself from spam and other advertising messages, you should make sure that your own e-mail address is nowhere to be found on the Internet. In addition, you should always consider carefully whether to register for some newsletters with a private e-mail address. This is because there may always be a website operator behind it who also uses and processes the e-mail addresses for other purposes. If an e-mail is affected by spam, it may be worth blocking selected spam addresses. Messages can also be marked as spam.
