Why Does Spam Exist? What Does It Really Mean To Web Users?

Spam has been around on the internet for as long as I can remember. Whether it is in my inbox or in the junk folder, even unsolicited mail through my letterbox, it has always been there, the problem we face now though is that it is more sophisticated that it ever was. There are now sophisticated software programs than unscrupulous webmasters use to spam links to blogs and forums. The whole idea of a blog or forum is to participate in the community, spamming these sites is going against what these websites believe in.

So why does it exist? The same reason it always did, even when I was a child I remember getting junk mail through the letterbox saying you have won a new car or enter this wonder prize draw. The bottom line is that they are there to make money. Someone somewhere is making quite a few dollars.

The other reason people spam links to forums and blogs is to raise the profile of their own website. They will leave a spam comment in a blog which links back to their site giving them a 'backlink'. With enough backlinks their website will rise in the search engine rankings. You can see the theory here, but alas like anything that sounds too good to be true this certainly is. To have good rankings in the search engines you need quality backlinks generally with good content, not some spammy link from a blog. The good thing is all the major search engines are on to this form of spam and do not look kindly towards it.

Some people get put of by the internet and email as all they hear is the bad press of spam. It is a fact that we have to deal with; it is always going to be there. We can only do what we can in our powers to combat it. Its like saying I am not having my post delivered to me anymore as I am fed up with junk mail, it's the same analogy.

If you run a blog there are precautions that you can take against spam, one of the most popular being a CAPTCHA which are questions or letters that you have to physically type into a form, spam can not get around this as you have to think about what it is asking you and input the answer. There always good and effective measures coming through to combat spam, my suggestion is that you keep up to date of any latest developments and software that will help you combat spam.