You probably know how to create multiple email aliases in Gmail by adding the plus symbol and dots to your Gmail username but there’s something more interesting.
When you create a Gmail account, you actually get two email addresses - one is the regular @gmail.com while the second email address has @googlemail.com in the domain.
That means if your email address in Gmail is something like billgates@gmail.com, all email messages that are sent to billgates@googlemail.com will also be delivered to your own Gmail account. That’s two for the price of one.
Like the Gmail plus trick, you can take advantage of these two domains so that less spam reaches your Gmail Inbox.
Give the @googlemail.com address to your close contacts (put that in the visiting card) while keep the @gmail.com address for public (put it on your blog). Then set a Gmail filter such that all email messages with @googlemail.com in the header go a special folder so you will never miss important email from close friends.
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/gmail-email-alias-two-separate-gmail-address/2388/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org


Reader Comments
thanks Amit. nice interesting info regarding gmail. :)
Written by mgn on 02.25.08
C’mon, you didn’t knew that? It happens because in some european country Google did not have the right to use the trademark “Gmail” so they had to use Googlemail.com instead. I’m not sure, but I think it was Germany.
Written by Rafa on 02.25.08
Thanks alot for this great tip! Now I can recode my spambot harvester to autogenerate @googlemail.com email addresses for every @gmail.com account I harvest. You’ve provided a great service to the spam community! Peace and love.
Written by nakedchicken on 02.25.08
I do not think this is new! This is no doubt part the same opportunities that the use of plus or point
Written by Jean-Noël on 02.25.08
Very useful information. I am not aware of this before.
Written by Veerasundar on 02.25.08
That’s neat, I never knew that before. Although, I don’t see how that would be different than giving your address with “+friend” or “+family” tacked on to it, accomplishes the same thing.
Written by Shawn K on 02.25.08
Because of a copyright issue in the UK, new gmail users are given @googlemail.com addresses automatically when they register. Apparently Google is not supposed to issue new @gmail.com addresses on this side of the pond.
However the funny thing is if they use link it still gets through.
Written by Neil MacLean on 02.25.08
also, any “.” in the email address is name part is ignored by gmail… for example:
link
link
link
and so on
will all get to the same email address.
the + trick is also good… its part of the official RFC whereby anything after the + in the name part of an email address is actually a “comment” - and as such, most spamming programs will strip that part out as its officially known that its not required.
Written by ringlerun on 02.25.08
This is cool, we can use multiple Gmail options from the same address. This is fantastic news thanks.
Written by Chris on 02.25.08
Also if you put a plus between two words it likes that too and is great for filtering mail
eg… link
link
link
etc….
Written by Lonnie on 02.25.08
Thanks for the info. I subscribe my blog feed as a back up to my 2nd Gmail address, which has label added to it and then it’s filtered separately…
Written by Michael on 02.25.08
Nice to know, but you can also use more than that. You can add tags to your email address with gmail by a plus sign then the tag before the @ sign. for instance:
link
So say that your username is joeuser and you are giving your address to dodgeysite.com you could give them link and any mail that comes to that address can be filtered. If you find that they sold your address, you will know, because you will see who did it in the address (nice trick, that). You can then set up a little filter to trash anything to that address.
Written by Ustice on 02.25.08
sounds reasonable, but
what if my contact knows this hack and he is too lazy to type googlemail.com instead of gmail? then the filter wont work ;)
Written by Yee on 02.25.08
Well perhaps you could’ve done that before you went and opened your big mouth. Now every spammer on the globe knows the trick.
Written by Brad on 02.25.08
I doubt if it will be helpful as the spammers can easily send to both @gmail.com and @googlemail.com
Written by Raymond on 02.25.08
Hei..that good..not just the gmail is super power..more than that I thinks I really love gmail.
Written by Bent on 02.25.08
Spammers rejoice!
Honesly if it is a one to one relation, it cannot prevent spam at all.
I will strongly suggest having 2 emails account. One for close and professional contacts, the other for use when you want to leave comments on blogs and such.
Written by Charles Wilson on 02.26.08
That’s not of any great use in blocking spam. The ID remains the same. Hence it is a matter of just replacing gmail with googlemail.
Written by Prakash on 02.26.08
If you want to avoid spam just use sneakemail.com for crying out loud!
Written by Anonymous Cow on 02.26.08
You can have multiple gmail addresses as long as you include your original address either using the + method detailed above. Or you can use . anywhere in your email adddress before the @.
For example if your address is GeorgeBush@Gmail.com you can have G.eorgeBush@Gmail.com or link
Written by Charlie Barker on 02.26.08
Really very nice informations from your side amit. I will keep on reading your articles frequently.. Mking me to come again to your site. Keep Rocking On..
Niyaz - Search Engine Marketing sulekha.com
Written by Niyaz on 02.26.08
I believe in Germany Google’s problems were that Daniel Giersch, had a pre-existing email service called G-mail, and in the UK, Independent International Investment Research’s use of gmail predate Google’s by 2 years. The EU’s trademark body, the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), also turned down Googl’es attempt to invalidate Giersch’s claim to the name. What all this showed was just how inadequate Google’s (or their lawyers) IP searching was before launching gmail.
Written by scott on 02.26.08
@googlemail.com for @gmail.com is very old news already. Gmail pioneers like me have known this since for 2 to 4 years already (depending if you count 2008 as a year transpired already)
Written by old news on 02.27.08
Thats is a cool concept giving personal contacts the googlemail.com address and filter it :)
Written by sanil on 02.27.08
Guess some users know it already, but I didn’t … so thanks for sharing!
Written by BollywoodPlusPlus on 02.28.08
Hello…
i want to know how can i change my gmail extension from @gmail.com to @googlemail.com?
I prefer @googlemail.com most so that’s why i want to know :)
So, can anybody suggest me?
thanks
Written by scsfdev on 04.03.08
Hi. I’m wondering if i got a e-mail address with
@googlemail.com , could that one be completely seperate from my link ? So in other words, I’m looking for a business e-mail only and a personal e-mail only without my personal e-mail address being redirected towards my gmail.com address. Is this possible? and how do I create a personal e-mail address on google? while already having a business e-mail on google? It would really help to get a specific answer. Thanks.
Written by katie on 07.13.08
I want my regular email to be googlemail. and second address to be gmail. How do i do that. Once i was able to do that but now i don’t know
PLEASE HELP ME :(
Written by jessica on 08.22.08
This is such a stupid question but as my e-mail name says i am a novice.Iwant a gmail address and when i try to create agoogle account the@yahoo is not @ gmail.Any reply should probaly be sent to link
Written by kendall kortner on 08.30.08
Reference my Gmail account. How to I Block certain senders?
Or How to I bounce senders? I can do this on my incredimail
but not on my gmail.
Thank you.
Written by Virginia Anderson on 09.08.08
@Virginia Anderson: You can set up filters to send e-mails from certain senders directly to trash.
Written by gxg on 10.07.08
This is exactly like the gazillion email addresses that AOL users have had for many years, that most of them don’t know about.
Written by app on 10.09.08
This is a nifty exploit and though Gmail does good spam filtering this trick can help you be more efficient!
Written by Pali Madra on 10.21.08
i believe they also gave a (.) free in the id…if you had booked amitagarwal@gmail.com then link was also your ID…correct me if i’m wrong?
Written by riya on 03.02.09
Yahoo also has done in the same way to increase the number of mail ids. like rocketmail.com
Written by Krishna on 03.18.09
Yes, it’s because of trademark issues in Germany where someone else had already registered the name “gmail” for his own mail website. Thus, Google had to call its email service “Google Mail” in Germany.
But nifty trick, none the less!
Written by Arnold D’Souza on 05.04.09