Use HTML symbols

All email addresses use the “at” symbol (@), and spiders are taught to look for them. HTML symbols are written directly into the HTML code, but are interpreted by the browser into their actual meaning. The HTML symbol for the “@” sign is &#64. So, how do we implement something like this?

<a href="mailto:name&#64;domain.com">

All we do is replace the @ sign with the HTML symbol that represents it. This method, however, is sometimes caught by more sophisticated software. Although most are not quite as advanced, they do exist. How do we surpass this hurdle? One way is by using JavaScript.

Using JavaScript, we will simply break up the e-mail address into four different sections, 1: name, 2: the @ sign, 3: domain, 4: extension. Here is a simple implementation of JavaScript to perform this action.

<script type="text/javascript">
name ="you"
domain ="domain"
extension =".net"
document.write('<a href="mailto:' + name + '@' + domain + extension +' " ' +' >e-mail link here ');
</script>

The above code is fairly self-explanatory. We define three variables, name, domain and extension, and simply concatenate those variables within a “document.write” statement to the browser. Notice we use HTML's anchor tags within the write statement so your browser will interpret the email link correctly.

There is another problem with using this method. JavaScript is client-side, which means although spiders might not be able to interpret your email address; browsers with JavaScript capabilities turned off will not either, meaning your e-mail address will not be displayed to the user.

How do we fix this problem? Can we get away with refusing to display any email address? Yes, but we still must provide a way for the user to contact us. The solution is a rather simple email form.

The third might be the only full proof method of protecting yourself against spam spiders, and that is simply refusing to display your e-mail address. Instead, if your server supports server-side processing (like Perl, ASP, Cold Fusion or PHP), simply design a feedback form, and call a server-side script to process the data behind the scenes.

Please note that if your server does not support any server-side programming language, you are out of luck in this regard. Chose between the two aforementioned methods.