Googlewhacking is a time wasting activity that involves looking for a two-word query to run in Google that returns a single result.
Read more background on this at Googlewhack.com ... yes, there is a whole site dedicated to it!
So why would spammers want to use this?
Spam filters are programmed to look for links in emails that may point to unfavourable content, including spoofing URLs, illegal substances etc. What they weren't programmed to eliminate was a link to Google search results.
Knowing this, spammers produced very specific search queries that would only list their own site or at least rank it in the number one spot. They would then modify the URL so it ran the not often used 'I'm feeling lucky' feature of Google and hey presto, you have by-passed all the spam filters by disguising your own link as a Google search page.
Spam filter 'makers' are onto them and some now eliminate emails that use this type of link. Sadly for most of us that just means even more of our legitimate emails will be accidentally black-balled.
:~Dax~:


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