Google Inc. will be placing a detection system on one of its advertising programs in an effort to stamp out a practice used to generate income from domain names without paying for them.
The practice, called "domain kiting," takes advantage of a five-day grace period that exists when registering domain names with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that oversees the registry of domain names.
Originally designed to allow people to rectify mistakes — such as spelling errors — the grace period has since become controversial because automation allows savvy computer users to sample domain names in large numbers and keep those that might generate ad revenue. This practice is called "domain tasting."
Repeated registering skirts domain fees
"Domain kiting" takes the practice one step further, with registrants cancelling their domain name before the grace period expires and immediately re-registering it, a process that can continue indefinitely and allow a person to avoid ever paying for the domain name.
The practice can be profitable, particularly if the registrant uses a service like Google Inc.'s AdSense for Domains or Yahoo Inc.'s Domain Match on the website. This programs allow AdSense advertisements keyed to the domain name to be placed on the otherwise empty website. When computer users click on those ads, both Google and the domain site owner get a percentage of the ad revenue generated.
While advertisers might not care how traffic is directed to their sites, legitimate websites that rely on Google AdSense ads to generate revenue have long disliked the domain kiting practice.
Google ads won't appear on 'kited' sites
Now, Google is doing something about it, the company said in a statement Friday. Its new kiting detection system is to take effect Feb. 11.
"We have long discouraged domain kiting as a practice," the company said. "In order to more effectively deter it, we are launching a new domain kiting detection system. If we determine that a domain is being kited, we will not allow Google ads to appear on the site. We believe that this policy will have a positive impact for users and domain purchasers across the web."
Jay Westerdal, president of Name Intelligence Inc., a company that analyzes domain-name patterns, first reported Google's plans on his Domain Tools blog on Thursday, citing Google sources that said the company would stop the practice by not allowing registrants to make money from websites that are less than five days old.
Such a policy would also impact domain tasting, not just domain kiting.
Last year, Name Intelligence Inc. released figures suggesting that in December 2006, 1.2 million domain names were being "tasted" each day, up from 7,200 two years earlier.
With files from the Associated Press
