Domain Sampling by Registrars to End

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has made a rule change that paves the way for a more equitable system of domain registration.

As it stands, domain registrars have up to five days to sample domains before purchasing them or not. This practice keeps the domains out of our (marketers) hands. Instead, large registrars, who load the parked domains with Adwords to see which domains earn the most revenue, tie up these domains for up to a week. Then they register the revenue-generating domain names only.

New Policy Aims to Curb Web Site Name Abuse - washingtonpost.com

The idea behind the so-called "add grace period" was to allow people who made a spelling or other mistake to get their money back and return the domain. But some registrars have built their entire business around abusing that well-intentioned policy, snatching up millions of domains at a time and only paying for and registering a tiny fraction of them that earn enough money through pay-per-click advertising traffic to justify the registration cost.

So the next time you see a parked at BoDiddly domain, notice if it is being held in place by Adwords, as if Adwords is actually monetizing these SPLOGs. Do you think G@@gle knows? Shame, shame . . .

Tags: icann, domain sampling, domain registrars, splogs, adwords