Wednesday, January 09, 2019

Link Whoring


I don't recommend checking out this link. 

I was reviewing stats and noticed a referrer I'm not familiar with. I wanted to see who they were so I clicked on the link, and behold, was "treated" to a page of pornographic crotch shots. It looked like there were tabs for other categories.

I immediately backed out and checked Webroot and Malwarebytes to make sure I hadn't picked up anything nastier than the images, but the question remains: Why would that site be linking visitors to this blog? Is it an attempt to ... uh ... infect or smear?  Something else?

Anybody with experience with this, feel free to (anonymously) advise in comments.

6 comments:

Z@X said...

I've noticed the same, from multiple sites. I just ignore the links. Dunno what the angle is ... maybe we are bot-listed as gun-porn and are flashed in side-bar click-bait ads. The traffic comes and goes ... so to speak.

Maybe the bots think you are writing about HUMP STOCKS ...



Alan said...

It's just a variation on email spam. They're getting a link in front of someone. They aren't actually referring, they're just doing it to get a link into your logs hoping you will be curious enough to click through. Then they get the referrer credit on whatever affiliate advertising they have.

Anonymous said...

Could it be some kind of spoofing? Not really that site sending the stuff, but made to look like it?

Jason Azze said...

Hi, David. It seems to be something called "Ghost Referrer Spam". This page suggests it's harmless to your site.

https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/porn-sites-in-your-google-analytics-referral-traffic/

Drake's Place said...

Weighing in on same. Noticed I had the same, David. Agree, yeah - SPAM bot/Ghost "hits".

Liston Matthews said...

I have had those, too.