A new research paper has revealed how to target so-called "double funnel spam" and ensure better search engine results for users. Yi-Min Wang and Ming Ma from Microsoft Research and Yuan Niu and Hao Chen from the University of California Davis believe they have found a way of tackling unwanted spam often found in online searches.
In some cases, search engine spiders can unknowingly link to a page that has little relevancy to a search but could be used to present spam information to accidental visitors.
"Ultimately, it is advertisers' money that is funding the search spam industry, which is increasingly cluttering the web with low-quality content and reducing web users' productivity," concluded the report.
It added: "By exposing the end-to-end search spamming activities, we hope to educate users not to click spam links and spam ad and to encourage advertisers to scrutinize those syndicators and traffic affiliates who are profiting from spam traffic at the expense of the long-term health of the web."
The research has uncovered that just two blocks of IP addresses dominate the use of double funnels spam. Therefore, this information could help to reduce this irritating form of redirection online spamming and significantly improve the search experience of users.
