Protect Your Email Address with the PlanetMagpie Email Anti-Spam Encoder

In order to protect email addresses posted on your website from spammers, you can encode your email address. Translate it into a language format spammers can't harvest, without blocking legitimate emails.

This is a two-step process. First you convert the email address to hexadecimal, a type of basic computer language. Then you change the link text on the website (the part visitors see on the page) to something direct, like "Email John." Instead of repeating the email address on the webpage.

For Step 1 you need an encoder. This is a small application which takes your email address and converts it over to hexadecimal. For example, my email address looks like this when encoded:

&#099;&#104;&#114;&#105;&#115;&#046;&#119;&#105;&#108;&#108;
&#105;&#097;&#109;&#115;&#064;&#112;&#108;&#097;&#110;&#101;
&#116;&#109;&#097;&#103;&#112;&#105;&#101;&#046;&#099;&#111;&#109;

You and I can't make sense of it, but a computer will understand it just fine.

The PlanetMagpie Email Anti-Spam Encoder (free for all our clients) is below.

Step 2 involves plugging this code into your website's HTML in place of your email address, and changing the link text so it doesn't mention your email either. Many people will repeat the email address, so anyone reading (or spam-scanning) the site will see YourName@YourDomain.com right there in the text!

Avoid this by replacing the link text with something more direct. For example, if you're posting Mary's email so people can ask her about a new product, write "Email Mary about Product X" as her email's link text. Spam-Scan thwarted!

That's how you stop spammers from harvesting email addresses off your website. Without making it any harder for visitors to contact you.

:: Network Support News