Google’s default SPAM blocker leaves a lot to be desired. I receive about 1,000 emails in my inbox a month, about 900 of which are SPAM. Did you know that there’s a way to block the rest of these SPAM emails so you ONLY receive the things you want?

It’s simple, and it utilizes a loophole in the legislation known as the CAN-SPAM act. According to the act, any email you’re sent by a reputable company is required, by law, to include an unsubscribe link. Emails that don’t include the link will already be marked by Google as SPAM, and they’ll end up in your SPAM folders. Emails that do, however, have the link, will be delivered by Google, even though they’re still SPAM.

With Google Filters, we can create a filter for the word “unsubscribe” and send all of the messages that include that word to a “Probably SPAM” inbox…

  1. Inside Gmail, click on the Settings gear on the top right of the screen and go to “Settings”
  2. Click the tab labeled “Filters”
  3. Click Create a New Filter
  4. In the “Has the words” box, type “unsubscribe” then click “Create a filter with this search”
  5. When a message arrives that matches this search, tell Gmail to (Skip the Inbox, Archive It) and (Apply the Label: New Label: Probably Spam)
  6. Click Create Filter

Now, emails that are likely marketing communications from companies you once did business with will automatically drop into the “Probably SPAM” folder.

There’s one more trick, however, that might help to eliminate the SPAM altogether.

  1. Enable the Gmail Labs feature “Canned Response” by going to Settings, Labs, and clicking Enable next to Canned Responses
  2. Compose a new, empty email, and type the word “unsubscribe”
  3. Click on Canned Responses, Create a New Canned Response, and call it Unsubscribe
  4. Go back to the Settings, Filters tab and edit the filter you just created
  5. Click Continue and then on the next screen, select “Send Canned Response” and choose “Unsubscribe”

Now any email that arrives with the word “unsubscribe” in it, you’ll respond to with the word “unsubscribe” which will remove you from a number of mailing lists automatically.

That’s it! Enjoy your SPAM-free inbox.