mailto<\/code> tag.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<a href=\"mailto:example1@heartinternet.uk\">\nexample1@heartinternet.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Everything can read it. People, browsers, screen readers, whatever.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Everything can read it. Which means it’ll be harvested within seconds.<\/p>\nReplacing with an image<\/h2>\n
Instead of having a text link, you can have an image with the email address in it.<\/p>\n
<p>Please email us at \n<img src=\"emailaddress.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"20\" alt=\"Email address\"><\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Spam bots aren’t going to pick it up as an email address. People can understand it and can type it into an email program, much like they would with a print campaign.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> It’s not a link, so you can’t just click on it. Screen readers will read the alt text, but putting the email address in the alt text means that spam bots can pick it up. The image won’t scale the way text does, making it difficult to make responsive. People have to go to the effort of retyping the email address and entering it, which they not be bothered with. And now some spam bots can actually search images using OCR, and pick up the email address anyway.<\/p>\nReplacing with a PHP script<\/h2>\n
Rather than having an email address right there, have a link to a PHP script that then loads the mailto<\/code> for the address.<\/p>\nOn the page:<\/p>\n
<p>Please <a href=\"mailhandler.php\">email us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nIn the script:<\/p>\n
<?php\n\/* Mailhandler for the main email address *\/\nheader (\"Location: mailto:example3@heartinternet.uk\");\nexit();\n?>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Spam bots won’t see the email address. You can also have this across your site, and if you ever need to change the email address, it’s just changing one file.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> You are calling a script each time someone clicks on that link. Spam bots won’t just crawl the site, but also search engines, so you might get a lot of hits on that one script.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/emailspam-robot1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Replacing the special characters<\/h2>\n
This is the classic way to “disguise” your email address. Rather than having the @<\/code> and the .<\/code>, you just have words.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<a href=\"mailto:example4ATheartinternetDOTuk\">\nexample4 AT heartinternet DOT uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> You can replace any parts with anything – make it [AT]<\/code>, *AT*<\/code>, whatever. And it’ll open up in the mail client just like it’s supposed to.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Some spam bots are able to automate the replacements, and can read an AT<\/code> just as well as an @<\/code>. Plus, it’s still on the user to change the email address, and they might get frustrated and not bother.<\/p>\nHiding through basic HTML codes<\/h2>\n
This is another fairly easy way to “disguise” the email address. With your a list of HTML codes<\/a>, you can replace the symbols with their HTML numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<a href=\"mailto:example5@heartinternet.uk\">\nexample5@heartinternet.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Displays perfectly in the browser and loads up correct in the mail program.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Spam bots have already seen through this trick and can automate the replacements, unfortunately.<\/p>\nFully hiding through HTML codes<\/h2>\n
Rather than just replacing the @<\/code> with an HTML code, you can replace everything with HTML codes and URL codes, producing a giant chunk of numbers and characters. Use the list of HTML codes from above or grab Web Bay Web’s Email Encoder<\/a> to see it work.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<a href=\"mailto:exa\nmple7@heart\ninternet.uk\">\nexample7@he\nartinternet\n.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Even the mailto<\/code> is converted, but it all displays correctly and loads up in the mail program.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Spam bots can still decipher these.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/emailspam-robot2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Adding in HTML comments<\/h2>\n
It looks right, and people can copy\/paste it right, but it’s hiding a secret in the code – plenty of HTML comment tags.<\/p>\n
<p>Please email us at example\n<!--\n-->\n8@\n<!--\n-->\nheart\n<!--\n-->\ninternet\n<!--\n-->\n.uk\n<!--\n-->\n.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Displays properly in the browser, and people can copy\/paste it into their email program.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> If a mailto<\/code> is used with it, it can be recognised as an email address. Also, it can add a lot more weight to your page.<\/p>\nAdding in text for the user to remove<\/h2>\n
Instead of just putting in an AT<\/code>, you put in an extra bit of text. You can also style up this text with CSS to make it clear that it needs to be removed.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<a href=\"mailto:example9REMOVE@heartinternet.uk\">example9\n<span style=\"color: #f00; text-decoration: line-through;\">REMOVE<\/span>\n@heartinternet.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> You can turn the inaccurate email address (the example9REMOVE) into a honeypot, picking up spambots and popping them on a blocklist.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> The CSS may not load correctly on some browsers. People will need to remember to remove parts of the email address in order to have the correct address.<\/p>\nAdding in text that doesn’t appear on the page<\/h2>\n
With CSS, you can also display:none<\/code> the text, meaning that it appears in the code, but it won’t appear on the page. You can use this for single words, or fill up the email with random text.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at example10\n<span style=\"display: none;\">REMOVE<\/span>\n@heartinternet.uk.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Spam bots will pick up an inaccurate email address, which you can turn into a honeypot, but to the average user, everything looks normal.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Users will have to copy\/paste the email address in. Some browsers might not pick up the CSS.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/emailspam-robot3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Building the email address in JavaScript<\/h2>\n
JavaScript lets you add together the email from all the bits and pieces, making it hidden from spam bots, but easy to click on.<\/p>\n
<script language=\"JavaScript\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\nvar part1 = \"example11\";\nvar part2 = Math.pow(2,6);\nvar part3 = String.fromCharCode(part2);\nvar part4 = \"heartinternet.uk\";\nvar part5 = part1 + String.fromCharCode(part2) + part4;\ndocument.write(\"Please email us at <a href=\" + \"mai\" + \"lto\" + \":\" \n+ part5 + \">\" + part1 + part3 + part4 + \"<\/a>.\");\n<\/script>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Completely hidden from spam bots, because they won’t trigger the click event.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> If JavaScript is disabled, the entire sentence will not appear.<\/p>\nUse a CAPTCHA<\/h2>\n
Want to keep your email hidden from robots? Ask people if they’re robots. Google’s reCAPTCHA service<\/a> is a great option, and, in fact, is often invisible to people. Sign up for it, put the details in, and you have a way to stop bots from getting your email.<\/p>\n<p>Please <a href=\"GOOGLE LINK\" \nonclick=\"window.open('GOOGLE LINK', '', 'toolbar=0, scrollbars=0, \nlocation=0, statusbar=0, menubar=0, resizeable=0, width=500, \nheight=300'); return false;\">email us<\/a>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> The email address is completely hidden from spam bots, and you can redesign the CAPTCHA to match your design. Plus, reCAPTCHA provides a service for major crowdsourcing projects, such as Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> Visitors might get annoyed with the CAPTCHA, and not bother. Accessibility is also not a given.<\/p>\nLoading part of the address via CSS<\/h2>\n
Using the ::before<\/code> and ::after<\/code> selectors in your CSS, as well as display: none<\/code>, you can engineer an email address that looks right to users while giving spam bots the wrong address.<\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\np#emaildomain::after {\ncontent: \"13\\40heartinternet.uk\";\n}\nspan#emailname::before {\ncontent: \"example\";\n}\nspan#botblocker {\ndisplay: none;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p id=\"emaildomain\">Please email us at \n<span id=\"emailname\">\n<span id=\"botblocker\">botblocker@heartinternet.uk<\/span>\n<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nRemember to use \\40<\/code> instead of @<\/code> so the CSS picks it up properly.<\/p>\nPros:<\/strong> Spam bots will only read what’s in the HTML, not what’s in the CSS. Because of this, you can set up a honey trap and get bots blocked fairly quickly.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> The text will be read by humans, but might have issues with some browsers. Plus, they’ll have to copy\/paste the email address.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/emailspam-robot4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Reversing the character squence with CSS<\/h2>\n
With the unicode-bidi<\/code> and direction<\/code> selectors in CSS, you can actually produce an email address that looks right on the screen but is nonsensical in the code.<\/p>\n<p>Please email us at \n<span style=\"unicode-bidi:bidi-override; direction: rtl;\">\nku.tenretnitraeh@41elpmaxe<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\nPros:<\/strong> Spam bots will see the backwards-facing email address, which will naturally go nowhere.<\/p>\nCons:<\/strong> You have to switch the email address around, and some spam bots will recognise the pattern and harvest the email address anyway.<\/p>\nEncrypting the email address using ROT13<\/h2>\n
Use JavaScript to build a ROT13<\/a> substitution cipher that hides the email address. Use a ROT translator<\/a> your email address’s secret code.<\/p>\n<script language=\"JavaScript\" type=\"text\/JavaScript\">\n\/* Encryption function *\/\nfunction encRot13(mailString) {\nvar mapArray = [];\nvar elements = \"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz\";\nvar outp = \"\";\nfor (i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {\nvar x = elements.charAt(i);\nvar y = elements.charAt((i + 13) % 26);\nmapArray[x] = y;\nmapArray[x.toUpperCase()] = y.toUpperCase();\n}\nfor (i = 0; i < mailString.length; i++) {\nvar c = mailString.charAt(i)\noutp += (c >= 'A' && c <= 'z' || c >= 'a' && c <= '\\' ? mapArray [c] : c)\n}\nreturn outp;\n}\n\/* Concatenating and redirection mailstring function *\/\nfunction decryptMail(encString) {\nvar linkString = \"mailto:\" ;\nvar addressString = encRot13(encString);\nlinkString += addressString;\ndocument.location.href = linkString;\n}\n<\/script>\n<p>Please \n<a href=\"JavaScript:decryptMail('rknzcyr15@urnegvagrearg.hx');\">\nemail us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/pre>\n