Spam Warning: Search Engine Registration

I promise I’m not turning this blog into a list of all the spam I get, but registering that domain for the non-profit my Grandma helped start has opened my eyes to all sorts of shady services preying on first-time registrants. Here’s another prime example I received just this morning:

Subject: Important: Complete Search Engine Registration for your domain {domain}

Hi there Steve Grunwell,

Domain Name: {domain} (Account #XXXXXXX)

This email is being sent out to you because search registration for {domain} is pending.

Please register these domains to search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo ASAP to avoid late fees.

Registering for search engines would help you show up in search results and increase your online presence.

You can register your domain at link given below :

{a link you should absolutely not click}

We sincerely appreciate your business! If you require anything, we are at your service.

Remember… If you do not register your domain with the search engines, it may not appear in the search engine listing when people are looking for you. Failure to complete your domain name search engine registration by the expiration date may make it difficult for your customers to locate you on the web. Complete your search engine registration today.

Sincerely,

Search Register
{some address, this one was in Singapore}

What’s interesting about this email was it was sent to the Technical Contact on the domain registration (me) instead of the Registrant (which uses the name of the woman who runs the non-profit but an email address that I control), so spammers seem to be hitting everything in the WHOIS records.

The email does raise a good point about submitting your site to search engines which, in the past, was often helpful in getting a new site in a search engine’s results. However, this is largely unnecessary today and, if you choose to explicitly submit pages to be indexed you’d be best submitting directly to the major search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo) which, if these services were legitimate there’s a good chance you’d be paying them to visit those three pages for you.

As usual, if you get emails like this mark them as “spam” and throw them away. Don’t respond, don’t click any links, and certainly never give them any personal information or money!