Google Makes $500M a Year On Typos

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist reports on an analysis by Harvard researchers that suggests Google rakes in half a billion dollars annually from advertising that appears on typosquatting domains. They estimate that 60 per cent of typosquatting pages use Google ads, but the advertising giant declined to discuss whether it should be working with such pages."

Comments

Smart people.

[SharpFang]

Someone on Google saw some new Internet service and said "I wish I had $0.01 for each typo the teens make."
Someone else said "You know, that's a really, really good idea. Let's do it."

Re:Smart people.

[eldavojohn]

Someone on Google saw some new Internet service and said "I wish I had $0.01 for each typo the teens make." Someone else said "You know, that's a really, really good idea. Let's do it."

That's not Google though, that's the people who registered the typo domains that are proactively making this happen. Google's ad service just might be what they use to recoup their registration/squatting fees. Google's not actively registering these sites and putting up ads to get money off of typos, rather someone else is doing that shady practice and sharing the profits with Google. Since Google makes their AdWords product easy to use and profit off of, they most likely use them and Google never realizes it until:

A Google spokesperson pointed out that the company will remove ads from typo domains if the owner of a site with a trademarked name makes a complaint, but declined to discuss the research in more detail.

Hate to sound like a fanboy on this one but Google's profits are from just offering an ad service. That's about as far as their evil goes here, they're even willing to kill those profits if the legit domain complains to them about the typo squatter.

Re:Smart people.

[tomhudson]

Google hosts more "squat pages" and "doorway pages" and "spam pages" than any other company in the world - literally millions of them.

So-called "domainers" use them because google makes it so easy - register the domain, park it at google, and make money.

Don't believe it? Do a search for "google park domain adsense"

Here's the first result from scroogle:

Google AdSense for Domains Earn revenue on your parked pages with Google AdSense for domains.
What is AdSense for domains?

AdSense for domains allows publishers with undeveloped domains to help users by providing relevant information including ads, links and search results.

With AdSense for domains, users can find relevant information rather than see empty pages or "page not found" errors. To ensure positive user experience and the quality of our network, these sites are monitored for policy compliance and prohibited from using text and images designed to confuse users.

AdSense for domains provides advertisers with additional opportunities to find their customers, and ads on these pages convert well. In addition, we regularly receive requests from advertisers who have found domains to be an effective way to reach their users.

If you have undeveloped domains, then AdSense for domains can help your users. To get started, check out our setup instructions, and visit our Help Center for more information.

Q: What domains are eligible for AdSense for domains?
A: AdSense for domains can be used on any domain that adheres to Google's policies.

Q: Is Google involved in the selection or registration of the domains in the AdSense for domains program?
A: Google is not involved with the selection or registration of these domain names, and is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between the registrants, our partners, and trademark owners. Accordingly, we encourage trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the registrants or registrars. As a courtesy to trademark owners, Google provides a simple publicly available complaint procedure and, once notified of a legitimate complaint against a specific domain, Google will no longer serve ads to that domain. For instructions on how to file a complaint, please refer to the Trademark Complaint Process page. Additionally, a copy of our publicly available trademark policy is available online.

This isn't the only way that google encourages the growth of cruft on the web. Almost 90% of the bogus registrations on the forums I run are made from gmail spam accounts. Not surprising, given that you can buy compromised gmail accounts for less than a penny a piece - or if you want to buy in bulk, you can get even better discounts - like 25,000 gmail accounts for $100.00.

They don't clamp down on it because it helps them train their spam filters, but the rest of us suffer the consequences.

Yes, I know, the problem will go away in 10 years, when all computers are powerful enough to run AI software capable of recognizing and squelching EVERY ad, including product placements in real-time video feeds ... and with it google's revenue model ...

Re:Smart people.

[gnu-user]

Google acts as a positive force on typo squatting. I had a few limited dealings with a domain squatter who transitioned into typo ad link selling. His desire for google money (it pays a lot more consistently and a better return then any of the other buyers) led him to put a lot of work into the "site" cleaning it up and making it almost normal. Google pushed this and he responded.

Prior to google, his primary revenue stream was the more aggressive/shadier hawkers of payed links. Among other things he offered a "search toolbar" install. Most of that went away with better google money.

While he probably would have had trouble with the "adult" ads, I remember a lot more of the typo squatters relying on those dollars. I'd much rather have discrete adwords popping up...

Keep in mind he was originally sold a bill of goods as a domain squatter. The ISP he uses certainly profits from his business, as well as the registrars he uses. There are a lot of people with their hands in this, not just Google.

If only...

[srussia]

Slashdot got a nickel for every typo...

Re:If only...

[dubbreak]

And a dollar for each hitler reference.

Hypocritical Policies

[celardore]

I'm sure that Google requires as a condition of their AdSense program, your site contains at least some content. They manually review sites before you get accepted into the AdSense program.

Unless of course you use their Domain Parking option.

Frist

[Bastard of Subhumani]

They won't maek a penny out of me!

Something I wondered about Google

[Anonymous Coward]

When you advertise with Google, they take an upfront fee. They want at least $50. Now they have the cash. They don't pay the website that's hosting the ads unless someone clicks on the ad AND check isn't written until the hoster's account hits $100. In the meantime, Google has the cash paid by the advertiser.

If any thing, the typo domain squatters are costing Google money or probably more accurate, making them not as profitable since they are planning to pay out the advertising share -eventually - but the money isn't in their bank. If that made any sense.

Re:Something I wondered about Google

[Kotoku]

No, that would mean they were making Google money. They get the advertiser's money. They hold it (accruing interest) and do not release it all until the recipients of the funds have reached preset limits for payment. Google is paying out very tiny amounts of money in these cases in varying time frames all the while collecting interest on the funds. A second added benefit is exposure and free advertising of their adwords service.

Not just typos

[characterZer0]

Once or twice in my life I have landed at a domain squatter's site due to a typo. Hundreds or thousands of times I have landed there due to links to sites that used to be something but are now run by the squatters.

Fantasy math

[$RANDOMLUSER]

No logical leaps here:

If the company earns as much per visitor from ads on typo sites as it reportedly does from ads alongside search results, it could potentially earn $497 million a year in revenue from typo domains, they conclude.

Typosquatting is Evil

[Anonymous Coward]

Typosquatting is evil but, $500 million per year is delicious. How can we increase revenues? Ooh, let's run our own global DNS system do our own typo squatting and cut out the middle man!

Genious! Eric, peel me a grape.

Re:Typosquatting is Evil

[izomiac]

Except that Google's DNS makes a point of returning proper NXDOMAIN records.

How does Google Public DNS handle non-existent domains?
If you issue a query for a domain name that does not exist, Google Public DNS always returns an NXDOMAIN record, as per the DNS protocol standards. The browser should show this response as a DNS error. If, instead, you receive any response other than an error message (for example, you are redirected to another page), this could be the result of the following:

• A client-side application such as a browser plug-in is displaying an alternate page for a non-existent domain.
• Some ISPs may intercept and replace all NXDOMAIN responses with responses that lead to their own servers. If you are concerned that your ISP is intercepting Google Public DNS requests or responses, you should contact your ISP.

Will Google Public DNS be used to serve ads in the future?
No. We are committed to preserving the integrity of the DNS protocol. Google Public DNS will never return the address of an ad server for a non-existent domain.

Why shouldn't they?

[CSHARP123]

As long as it is not leading the user to some fishy site, I think it is perfectly legit to work with these kind of sites especially when it involves $500 mil

What's the intimation here?

[DarrenBaker]

I hope they're not suggesting it's unethical of Google to work with these typo-squatters, because it simply isn't. Now, if the typo-squatters were trying to trick people into thinking they'd reached where they were attempting to get, that would be unethical.

It's becoming a moot point, anyway... Most people I know type the web address into the Google search box, then click on the link that appears.

Re:Better them than other ad networks

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate to break it to you but Doubleclick was bought by Google a few years ago.

No different than a billboard

[mayko]

Legit squatting sites are no different than a billboard you see after you make a wrong turn while driving.

Like others have said, as long as they aren't a phishing site or trying to trick you into believing you are where you are not, then it sounds like there is no foul.

ssh hacks

[dargaud]

One thing I've never seen discussed is how typosquaters can get your ssh passwords. I almost fell for one. Like many slashdotters I have some personal servers on adsl lines (moving IPs) and thus use the services of a dynamic DNS. I wanted to connect to user@myhomepc.dnsalias.com, one of the most common dynalic DNS, but mistyped the domain name (don't remember how exactly). I was nonetheless prompted for a password, which I stopped halfway, remembering that I had setup a public key and thus did not have to type one. It's easy to recompile ssh to log all passwords attempted. Hook it on a catchall for all subdomains and you can start gathering accesses...

Re:ssh hacks

[Anonymous Coward]

You should get a warning you're connecting to a host for the first time.
That should be a warning enough for you.

What about the registrar?

[schlick]

The guy who did the "study" is a douche.

Moore and Edelman started by using common spelling mistakes to create a list of possible typo domains for the 3264 most popular .com websites, as determined by Alexa.com rankings. They estimate that each of the 3264 top sites is targeted by around 280 typo domains.

They then used software to crawl 285,000 of these 900,000-odd sites to determine what revenue the typo domains might be generating.

Why didn't he publish the registrars that provide typo domains? There isn't any question that they profit directly from those typosquaters.