Hello spammers!

    After reading a topic about a web studio that incorrectly chose the method of advertising , I decided to tell you, it seems to me, a very funny story.

    I must say right away that I don’t like spam, it’s bad for everyone, and the fact that people have to tidy up large amounts of information that they do not need, and the fact that they have to configure spam filters and the fact that they have to think and talk about this problem, instead of just use mail. And even that which leads us, among other factors, to global warming (energy is wasted). But on the other hand, I don’t think that I have suffered much from spam, because I don’t light my mailboxes and in projects, if possible, I switch to web services instead of mail, which is what I want for you.
    Nevertheless, spam does not pass me by. It happened this time too ...

    Among spammers, there is one type of customer acquisition - first a site is created, then it is optimized for some not very common and valuable word and is put on this word in the first place in the search results (usually Yandex). After that, a spam mailing is made, urging them to search for this word in a search engine. Once we received such a letter, approximately the following content:

    Dear, blah blah blah ...

    We are a super-duper professionally make websites, all things ...

    In order to find us, type in Yandex the word “HERE A SOME WORD” and you will see us in the first position.


    Typically, such letters immediately go to the basket (well, still - we also make sites :)). But either the mood was good, or there was nothing to do (it was Friday night), but it did not get into the basket. There was an idea to use someone else's mailing list for our own purposes, for which it was done:

    1. A completely simple one-page site.ru site was quickly created on which “SOME WORD” was also played
    2. A special placement for this word was bought in Yandex.Direct.

    Note to the hostess:
    For those who are not in the know, “special placement” is when your contextual advertising is shown not on the right, in a special block, but directly above the search results, i.e. in the very first place (look for example a taxi in Yandex - at the moment the first two links are special accommodation. Upd.those who do not show “special accommodation” for a taxi search - look below in the comments I gave a screenshot of how they look).
    It is expensive, but the money is taken only for the transition through advertising on your site. If there are two or more people who want one word, whoever pays the most will be higher.
    Since besides us there were no people who wished, then our click was quite cheap. I didn’t deal specifically with Yandex, so I know the details, but they are insignificant It

    remains to be expected when Yandex moderators check our ads and launch it. After a few hours, this happened, after which we began to monitor the logs on our server.

    There were not very many transitions from Yandex, or the days were unsuccessful (days off), they sent newsletters to a not very large base. But after some time we spotted on our website the actual messengers (or customers).
    They were clearly visible, since it was possible to get to the site through an official way only with Yandex advertising, and here there were obvious transitions from other places, for example, from the web interface of mail to mail.ru. Probably someone from their team saw our fraud and reported this to the boss by mail, and he already got to us from there.

    After some time, we received confirmation of our thoughts. The guys cut a chip, and ... also ordered a special placement on the same word, and, since they were not the first, they had to raise bids per click in order to drive us out of first place.
    Thus, the guys fell into our trap. We immediately removed our ads and for about an hour actively clicked from Yandex to their website (using, including, different IPs), which was why they actively spent their money. Either they put little money, or they understood what was happening, but they quickly removed their advertising. We also did not begin to return advertising, since the enemy could already spoil our financial condition.

    As a result, we realized our goals, namely (in decreasing order of importance):

    1. received a lot of positive emotions (compensated for their irritation from spam)
    2. punished the suckers of spammers and spoiled their nerves and even deprived them of some money
    3. very approximately, but were able to evaluate the effectiveness of such an advertising campaign, at someone else’s expense. Since we ourselves never engaged in spam mailings, it was interesting for us.

    Potentially, we could get a customer if someone called us, we gave our contacts on our one-day website. But firstly, no one called, and secondly, we did not set such a goal, although it would be ridiculous. Spammers also did not dare to call us.

    Each of us can do the same, it’s not difficult. Each of us can not only ignore spam, but also actively counteract it. And then we will win!

    PS I have not seen spam emails from them anymore. Maybe this is an accident, or maybe (I hope) they thought about something.

    Best wishes!

    Also popular now: