• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness Services
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

SEMrush

Home » Marketing Foo » Web Hosts Hijacking 404 Error Pages on Live Web Sites

Web Hosts Hijacking 404 Error Pages on Live Web Sites

Posted on September 17, 2009 Written by Bill Hartzer

Some web hosting companies have now taken it to a new low: they are monetizing (making money) from your web site without your knowledge. Web hosts are now hijacking their customers’ 404 error pages and putting up a slew of paid ads: advertisements, when clicked, make the company money. And most web site owners don’t even know that this is happening to them. It could be happening to you, on your web site, and you don’t even know it. It looks like this:

404-web-host-hijack

Google recently was caught hijacking 404 error pages when the users have installed their Google Toolbar. They do not make any money from these 404 errors, Google “helps you” by allowing you to easily search for something:

google-404-error-toolbar

What Google is doing could be considered “ethical” since they’re not making any money from these user errors. But what your web hosting is doing is not right. Let me explain, in more detail, what is happening and what is becoming an increasingly common practice in the web hosting industry:

When you set up a website, you pay for two things: a domain name and web hosting. A domain name (like www.BillHartzer.com) must be registered at an official Registrar. You then need pay another company, a web host, to “host” your web site’s computer files, the files that sit on a web server, the ones that are requested by web browsers when someone comes to your web site.

An expired domain name (or a parked domain name) at GoDaddy.com looks like this:

godaddy parked page

Many people register domain names but never actually set up web hosting for them. It is common practice now for domain name registrars to automatically put up “domain parking” or “landing pages” on those domain names that aren’t currently be used. The domain Registrar makes money when someone clicks on a link: these links are actually paid ads that usually come from an affiliate partnership with Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing. The domain name owner has NOT told the registrar where they want their domain name to “point”, like to a web host where they actually have a web site up and running. Some people, typically called “Domainers”, will register or own a domain name and then point the domain name to a domain name parking service that puts up the ads on behalf of the domain owner: and the domain owner shares the click-thru revenue with the domain parking company.

I believe it is totally acceptable for a registrar to put up a “domain parking page” and monetize that web page (make money from it) if the owner of the domain name does not specify where they want the domain to point. If the domain name owner isn’t using the domain name for a live web site and they aren’t using the domain name to earn domain parking revenue themselves, it is okay for the domain registrar to monetize it as long as they indicate something on the web page (like it’s an expired domain or that the domain owner has not set up a page on it, etc.).

Another way that some ISPs (the company you pay for internet access) make money is at the router or ISP level (you as a customer have no control over this). If you are browsing the web and you type in a domain name that doesn’t exist, companies like Time Warner and Embarq might put up a web page telling you that the web address is not correct: and they may put up click-thru ads on the page, giving the ISP a chance to make money.

But what if you have bought a domain name, you are pay a web host good money to host the web site for you–and your web site is live. People are going to it and the web site has a lot of visitors. Does your web host have the right to automatically display advertisements on your web site (on your domain name) when one of your visitors goes to a page that doesn’t exist on your web site?

Absolutely not. This is where I personally draw the line. It’s your web site and you should have a choice when it comes to whether or not your web hosting company makes money from your web site. I was absolutely appalled when I recently found that web sites hosted by Ecommerce.com are having their 404 error pages hijacked like the image I show at the top of this blog post.

Your web host, the company that you pay for web hosting, actually thinks that it is “okay” for them to make money from their customers’ web sites’ 404 error pages. Granted, in this case, the web host, IX Web Hosting, owned by Ecommerce.com, has taken website monetization to a new low. There are about 300,000 web sites hosted on the ixwebhosting.com nameservers.

I was very interested in the legality of this, and it turns out that apparently it has been added to the Terms of Service
:

XXII. Non-Existing User Pages

IX Web Hosting reserves the right to supply content-enriched pages, including but not limited to search engines, advertisements, directory links, etc., for non-existent user pages that are served by IX Web Hosting to requesting sources. These pages include error pages (i.e. 404 Not Found), new account place-holder pages, unused domains and suspended user sites.

All users of IX Web Hosting services have the option of creating their own error pages and content pages. Unless created by the user, such pages will default to the IX Web Hosting provided content.

Ecommerce.com / IX Web Hosting is not the only web host doing this, some of the largest web hosting companies, such as Lunarpages, are also hijacking their customers’ 404 error pages.

Technically speaking, you do have the right to change your 404 Error Page on your web site, and it’s called setting up a “custom 404 error page”. If you are using WordPress on your web site as a CMS or as a blog, then you probably already are taking care of your 404 error page. From my experience, about 98 percent of web sites do not have custom 404 error pages, and the majority of web site owners don’t even know that they can make one.

What do you think? Does a web host–someone you pay for web hosting–have the right to monetize your website without your knowledge?

Filed Under: Marketing Foo

SEMrush

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, LLC, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management.

Recent Posts

  • dotDB is Not Shutting Down February 1, 2023
  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do January 4, 2023
  • Web Hosting Services Market to Grow to $254.86 Billion by 2029 December 13, 2022
  • This SEO Blog Post Was Written by ChatGPT December 8, 2022
  • Facebook Rolling Out Facebook Articles December 7, 2022
  • Doing SEO is Better Than… December 6, 2022
  • Tucows and GoDaddy Report Q3 2022 Results November 6, 2022
  • How to Measure App Events Sourced by Organic Search and SEO September 20, 2022
  • Google Allegedly Eavesdrops and Monitors the Brain 24 hours a Day to Control Humanity September 14, 2022
  • Why You Shouldn’t Hire SEOs Based on An Email September 13, 2022
  • Global SEO Market to Reach $122.11 Billion by 2028 September 9, 2022
  • Bluehost Launches New Commerce Solutions for WordPress September 8, 2022
  • Which CMS? How to Choose the Best CMS for Your Purposes August 29, 2022
  • Accidental SEO Manager: Interview with Ash Nallawalla August 15, 2022
  • Sometimes Google Isn’t Family Friendly August 1, 2022
  • Something’s Seriously Wrong with Facebook Notifications July 12, 2022
  • Facebook Internet Tracking Settlement June 24, 2022
  • RankSense Acquired by SEOClarity June 1, 2022
  • LinkedIn Links, Digital Marketing News, and SEO Questions Answered May 9, 2022
  • GoDaddy Ending Forwarding of Existing Shortened Links May 5, 2022

US Agency Awards Judge

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

I Love SEO
WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones
Brian Hartzer
Navah Hopkins

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (210)
  • Google (236)
  • Internet Marketing (25)
  • Internet Usage (85)
  • Link Building (53)
  • Local Search (39)
  • Marketing (180)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (3)
  • Podcast (18)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (48)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (164)
  • Search Engines (204)
  • Social Media (192)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (17)
  • Webinars (1)

Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2023 ·