Google is using promoted Tweets on Twitter to promote the use of new gTLD domain names. This is the first time that I’ve seen a promoted Tweet from Google Domains that is specifically that “hundreds of new domains are available”. [Read more…]
Moving Your .COM to a .BRAND Domain? Google Says…
Brands that have purchased their own .BRAND TLD (Top Level Domain) shouldn’t worry about moving their websites. I recently asked Gary Illyes, the Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, about the effect on search when you move your website from a .COM domain name to a domain on your own .BRAND TLD. [Read more…]
Apple Registers 682 More Nonsense Domain Names
Again, on January 9th, Apple register another 682 (six hundred and eighty two!) nonsense domain names. I’ve been following these nonsense domain name purchases since they started purchasing them a while back. Here are a few of the domains on the latest purchase: [Read more…]
Apple Registers Another Set of Nonsense Domain Names
I’ve written about this before. And it’s been a while since Apple has registered a set of nonsense domain names. On December 31, 2015, they did it again, they registered 62 new domain names that consist of just nonsense characters. From what I can tell, they don’t really mean anything. Here are a few of the domains that they recently registered: [Read more…]
Holiday Deal: Take 50 Percent Off Any Verified Domains Service
It’s that time of year. Holiday shopping, spending time with family and friends, and looking back at the past year. It’s been a fabulous year, and I thought that I’d mention a great deal that we are having over at Verified Domains. Between now and the end of 2015, you can take 50% off any Verified Domains service. [Read more…]
A Domain Name Related Contest
I was just interviewed by Borja for the Money Diver podcast about domain names and choosing the right domain name. As a part of this podcast, Borja and I put together a domain name related contest. [Read more…]
I Just bought Bill.Ninja Domain Name
As you may be aware, I am a big fan of the new gTLD domain name extensions, there are hundreds of them already in General Availability. So, I was hunting around today, using the technique below, to find available domain names and names that I wish to pre-register.
I found that the first owner of Bill.Ninja failed to renew the domain name, so I was able to pick it up at a minimal cost. I consider that a huge win for me, as it’s a great, short, domain name. I even set up a short email address on it, as well. [Read more…]
The New gTLD Domain Name Extensions Explained, Using Pizza
Recently, there have been a few interesting posts and videos that I’ve liked that make their points using pizza. So, here are the new gTLD domain name extensions, explained using pizza. Really, it’s pretty simple:
1. The old, traditional .COM is the cheese pizza.
Google Now a Part of Alphabet, Uses New gTLD Domain Extension
Google has been officially moved to a new organization called Alphabet. Larry Page, in a letter on their new site, explained that they traditionally don’t do normal things. Sometimes they do things differently because Google isn’t a conventional company. [Read more…]
Verified Domains Provides Comprehensive Background Checks for Domains
This week, I’ve launched our new service called Verified Domains. Verified Domains is the first-ever service on the internet that provides comprehensive background checks for domain names. I have personally been working on this patent-pending process since the beginning of this year. Before you buy a domain name and start using it for your website, I urge you to get your domain verified. Not only will we uncover any potential problems with the domain name before you use it, we guarantee it, up to $50,000. [Read more…]
Even Huge Institutions Can’t Move Their Sites Properly to a New gTLD
As you may already know, I am an advocate of the New gTLD domain names. Whenever possible, I recommend moving away from a .COM domain name to a New gTLD domain name if that new domain you’re moving to is “better”. Meaning that if you can get a keyword-rich domain (with the keyword in the ending), that ultimately will be the better choice for your site. The New gTLD domains, however, have been slowly been adopted, and what it’s going to take is for more and more mainstream businesses to start moving to a New gTLD. That way the public will be much more accepting of the New gTLDs. [Read more…]
Google Removing Domain Names From Search Results Increases Internet User Vulnerability
On Thursday, April 16, 2015, Google announced that they are beginning to remove the domain name from the mobile search results. Rather than displaying a URL in the search results or a domain name, Google has begun to display a website name or a website name and a breadcrumb of the website’s page. Domain names generally have been removed from the mobile search results. This move by Google is wrong, and ultimately increases internet user vulnerability to potential fraud and deception. Furthermore, it undermines the whole entire Domain Name System as we know it. [Read more…]
ZDNet Buys Domain Name: Immediately Gets 2 Year Old Trusted Site Banned in Google
ZDNet bought a new domain name from the domain name aftermarket (a domain name auction), and almost immediately got their trusted, authoritative, 2 year old website banned in Google. ZDNet wrote a scathing article on their site, blaming Google for the error, claiming that Google got it all wrong. But, that’s not the case. Google absolutely got it right, and was correct in banning the site in Google. Here’s how ZDNet bought a domain name, redirected their trusted, authoritative site to this new domain name, and then got their website banned in Google. [Read more…]
Laureate Education Sues Domain Name Proxy Service for Trademark Infringement
Laureate Education, Inc. is suing Domain Name Proxy Service, Inc. for alleged trademark infringement. Case number 2:15-cv-00879, a suit was filed on March 20th in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Domain Name Proxy Service, Inc. address is in Louisiana, therefore Laureate Education decided that it was appropriate to file there. While the lawsuit alleges that OnlineUAEUniversities.com is infringing on trademarks owned by Laureate Education (namely the Walden University and University of Liverpool trademarks), Laureate Education has filed suit against Domain Name Proxy Service because they couldn’t contact the real owner of OnlineUAEUniversities.com. [Read more…]
Apple Pay Supplies Coming for Merchants?
Apple Pay image courtesy of App Advice.
Based on several domain names that have been registered by Apple in the past 24 hours, it appears that Apple could soon offer Apple Pay supplies to merchants. Apple registered domain names like applepaysupply.com and applepaymerchantsupplies.com, along with a host of other similar domain names: [Read more…]
35 Speakers to See at NamesCon 2015
From January 11 to January 15, 2015, the NamesCon 2015 domain name conference is being held in Las Vegas. I’m personally speaking in two separate sessions, and will be attending the conference all week. As with a lot of conferences that I’m attending and speaking at, I go through the list of speakers and hand pick a list of them that I think you should definitely not miss.
ICANN Hacked
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers organization that oversees internet domain names, has been hacked. In late November 2014 they were targeted with a spear phishing attack, and then this month they discovered that the compromised credentials were used to access other ICANN systems besides email. This included the Centralized Zone Data System. [Read more…]
Apple and Afilias Special Projects Register 1800 Nonsense Domain Names
Ever since I originally noticed that Apple was registering nonsense domain names, I have been intrigued about why they would be registering and then not renewing nonsense domain names. And it’s not just one or two domain names, or a dozen of them.
This time, Afilias Special Projects has registered 1862 new domain names in the past 24 hours, which is a significant amount of domain names. Registration fees alone for 1800 .info domain names would be at least $15,000. These new domain names, are all .info domain names, and are pointed to the Apple.com name servers, just like the other nonsense domain names I’ve been following. [Read more…]
Apple Deletes Over 500 Domain Names
Apple has deleted over 500 domain names this week, and decided not to renew these domain names. Most of these domain names were registered by Apple exactly one year ago, and after coming up for renewal they have not renewed them. [Read more…]
7Search, Others, Accused of Traffic Stealing in Domain Parking Research Paper
7Search, a leading Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising and Affiliate Network, along with a few other search and domain parking companies, have been accused of traffic stealing in eye-opening research paper titled Understanding the Dark Side of Domain Parking.
The paper, presented at the 23rd USENIX Security Symposium, was researched and written by Sumayah Alrwais, Indiana University Bloomington and King Saud University; Kan Yuan, Indiana University Bloomington; Eihal Alowaisheq, Indiana University Bloomington and King Saud University; Zhou Li, Indiana University Bloomington and RSA Laboratories; XiaoFeng Wang, Indiana University Bloomington. [Read more…]