cgi.http_referer

[Idee]

I generate the report on referers and hits to my site. Recently I got a referrer in my report from a site which is not a good site and no way it could have a link to my site.

As far as I understand, a site only becomes a referrer because its URL was set in the cgi.http_referer variable. cgi.http_referer variable stores information on referring document that linked to or submitted form data.

My question is - Is there any other way I can get referrer from this site or cgi.http_referer can get set any other way?

Thanks

 

[silverspecv]

I get all kinds of strange referers.. Some of the common weird ones are translator sites, but also people sometimes seem to save pages to their hard drive for offline browsing and then fill out forms from there. However, theoretically, the http_referer is simply a convention that browsers adhere to, it is not enforceable, meaning some hacker could write a browser that allows the user to pass anything they want over the referer, or else they could have some security software installed that completely blocks the referer. What is the referer you're receiving?

 

[xtendscott]

I generate the report on referers and hits to my site. Recently I got a referrer in my report from a site which is not a good site and no way it could have a link to my site. " = Logfile Spamming.

If your getting a lot of these, it sounds like someone is using your site to "log spam". Search engines look at your log files if they are not in a secured folder. If a site appears to be sending your site a lot of traffic, search engines give the referring site value.

xtendscott
Web Site Design and CF Programming

 

[Idee]

Thanks to both of you. xtendscott, thanks for sharing about logfile spamming.

I just got 3 hits from that site and that too just on one date. Do you still think it could be logfile spamming? Another thing, I am not using log file to generate my stats rather I have a database for report purposes which stores the referral value for the site.

Thanks

 

[Wullie]

It's a spider that crawls the web and injects a fake referrer into your logs.

The idea is that:

1) search engines will hit your logs (as mentioned above)

2) blogs etc who display the last 10 referrers or so will show their link on the site

3)webmasters checking their logs are likely to click through to the site, just as you did.

There are actually some sites that charge for this as a type of advertising. Do a Google search for "referrer advertising" and you will pull up scripts and sites about this.

Hope this helps

Wullie

Fresh Look - Quality Coldfusion/Windows Hosting

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[Idee]

Thanks Wullie

Do you mean that site which is showing in my report is a spider and it has entered a fake referrer and if I click on that referrer, it will open a site which this spider is trying to advertise?

Is there any way to find out if the referrer is a genuine one or a fake one?

Thanks

 

[Wullie]

I'm not saying it definately is a spider in this case, I can't say that with the limited information we have but as you say there is no way that this site would link to you, then it sounds likely.

The referrer is passed from the client, and like anything else passed from the client you cannot be sure of it's accuracy. Browsers can also be set to hide or fake the referrer so there is no way to tell if the referrer was real or not, unless you visit the page and see your link on it.

Hope this helps

Wullie

Fresh Look - Quality Coldfusion/Windows Hosting

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell