Plaintext Emails Test
The Plain Text Email Test scans any URL for email addresses written in plain text (e.g. "[email protected]") rather than wrapped in mailto: links or hidden behind a contact form. Exposed plain-text addresses are harvested by spam bots within hours of publishing — flooding the inbox with junk and degrading the deliverability of legitimate replies. The fix is to use mailto: links for human visibility plus simple obfuscation, or to gate the address behind a contact form for serious protection.
What This Tool Checks
- Plain-text email addresses in visible page text
- Email addresses inside mailto: links (acceptable)
- Obfuscated emails (HTML entities, JS rendering)
- Contact form availability as alternative
- Sensitive email patterns (admin@, support@, security@) exposed
Why It Matters for SEO
Spam bots scrape the public web continuously for email addresses. A plain-text address typically receives spam within hours of being indexed. Obfuscation (HTML entities, JavaScript-built strings) provides moderate protection; gating behind a contact form provides full protection. The right choice depends on the audience — public support addresses can stay plain; personal addresses should be gated.
How to Fix It
Wrap public addresses in mailto: links so users still get one-click contact, with light obfuscation (HTML entities for the @) for spam-bot protection. For sensitive addresses, replace with a contact form that captures messages server-side. Use plus-addressing ([email protected]) so you can identify the source if an address starts receiving spam.
How It Works
We render the page, extract visible text, and pattern-match for email addresses. Each match is classified by exposure (plain text vs mailto vs obfuscated) and the recommendation is tailored per pattern.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Personal addresses in author bios as plain text
- support@ addresses with no spam filtering or alias forwarding
- admin@ exposure giving spammers a target for credential stuffing
- Treating obfuscation as bulletproof (modern bots execute JS and decode entities)
- No contact form alternative for users without configured mail clients
Quick Checklist
- No personal email addresses in plain text
- Public support addresses use mailto: + light obfuscation
- Sensitive addresses gated behind a contact form
- Plus-addressing used to identify spam sources
- Aggressive spam filter on every published address