My NameSilo .COM's Get Indexed In Search Engines???

[DomainAuction]

Hi Name Pros,

I've been using NameSilo for a majority of my domain registrations but recently I noticed a HUGE inconvenience they have caused for me and several investors when simply doing a Google search for the brand that I am developing...

The name of my upcoming brand uses a .COM domain and we are based in the United Stated with upcoming expansions in Mexico, Canada, and several other countries in South America. Our expansions were to be kept confidential until date-of-launch but thanks to NameSilo that was impossible ...

Once confirming our expansions; we wanted to obtain all possibilities (and typo's) of our brand name in ccTLD's and additional .COM's so we purchased the ccTLD's for the brand (E.g., *.mx, *.ca, etc) from other registrars since NameSilo currently does not offer such extensions but also purchased .COM's such as TheBrandsNameMexico.com, TheBrandsNameMX.com from NameSilo ...

One week after purchasing those additional .COM's from NameSilo we noticed them listed on Google (several times, and from different aggregated resources / URL's) when simply Googling the brands name ...

Pretty much all .COM's registered from NameSilo such as TheBrandsNameMexico.com have somehow appeared in Google Search results when simply searching for the brand. Let me be clear, literally ALL domains including the main/root .COM domain we will be using for the brand are 100% untouched. We simply just registered them and left them as-is until it is time for launch.

#1 - All of my NameSilo purchases have their Privacy enabled prior checkout

#2 - Our competition now knows that we are expanding into Mexico, Canada, and the South American countries because of this (... and my investors were PISSED)

How can a completely untouched domain registration be scraped so easily? Do all newly registered domains simply go into some sort of public database? If not, is NameSilo somehow selling my info?

Whatever the case is; they must fix this. Who knows what other information is floating around the web when it SHOULD NOT be (...especially if privacy is enabled and/or paid for)

 

[xyo]

I don't think this would solve the problem. A simple name availablity check would indicate that the name had been registered, and this is the fact that th OP was trying to conceal. I believe it would be better to provide misleading ( but legitimate) information in the whois.

Yea sure, you just couln't "solve" that entirely because by design any registered domain will be exposed at some level. As you said, only thing one can do is try to obfuscate/mislead.

 

[Mister Funsky]

when you register a name it is listed as being in the zone. There isn't really a way round this, as there has to be a record somewhere that the name is no longer available.

Exactly. The spiders/crawlers pick up on this almost instantly. No registrar is immune or can prevent this from happening. The privacy feature will be/may be intact but the transaction of a name being sold (registered) is to be considered 'public' knowledge.

The only way around tipping off competitors is to determine all names that will be part of a project and register them in the same sitting/day.

 

[Kate]

As @tonyk2000 asked/suggested, it is currently NOT possible at Namesilo to completely remove Nameservers from a domain. Though this is technically perfectly fine for at least all gtlds registries and can be done at some other registrars.
This way, at least the domain wouldn't be published in the zone file. I'm not sure if new .com/.net registrations are automatically published somewhere else, but I think not.

I don't think this would solve the problem. A simple name availablity check would indicate that the name had been registered, and this is the fact that th OP was trying to conceal.

A domain name that has no name servers will not be provisioned in the zone files. It will be almost 'invisible'. Because everybody can see the newly-registered domain names based on the zone files. But if it was registered without any active NS, then you won't see it in the zone files.
Sure, if you check the domain you will see it's taken (and you will get the whois record) but you have to know it exists in the first place, or what to search.

However, there is something else to keep in mind. Since the majority of ccTLDs do not publish their zone files, search engines like Google cannot easily detect all new registrations.
However they have some tricks. For example, if you try to resolve one domain name and you are using their public DNS (8.8.8.8), then Google will find out and add the domain to their crawl list. Thus they are able to visit and index your site without even being notified.
Why do you think they offer a free DNS service ? It is to collect as many host names as possible.

To sum up, registering a name with no active NS is a valid option to go 'stealth'.
However, some TLDs are strict and insist on a set of valid NS before registration can proceed, for example .de.

 

[Jv1999]

How do I disable parked pages? But wouldn't it make more sense to make the parked pages ineligible for indexing unless the owner asks for them to be? I've never experienced this with any other domain defaults (aka "parked pages") ...

Also, a domain with 0 records is a complete no-no (in my opinion and 15 years of SEO experience); especially for future development. How can I make it so the domain defaults contain records but are not eligible for indexing?

Whatever it takes, i'll do --- I honestly never knew it would do this and it hurt my current project bigtime.

I am confident you somehow confused whois privacy with domain landing pages. These are two very different things.

Whois privacy only deals with your icann registration info being hidden. That's domain only. A website and landing pages are matters of Web hosting and the default registrar setting.

All registrars have some kind of default name servers that populate some kind of landing page. Namesilo is no exception.

Also, even if there was no resolution to any page, your new domains are still discoverable because many competitors have scary SEO experts who get alerts when a new domain related to a competitor is registered.

For example, they could just go to namedroppers.Com daily and do a search for your brand.

Domainers also frequently use tools that alert them of new domain registrations. I don't know what the exact tools are tho :P

 

[Jv1999]

GoogleCars isregistered in a number of extensions but afaik Google is not planning on manufacturing cars.

Dude kuffy, how have you not heard of Google's Waymo project? It was big in the news

 

[HotKey]

NameSilo's not-so-private Domain "Privacy" ...

Wonderful. Another disparaging thread title with little or nothing to do with the actual problem at hand. Maybe learn a little more about domain name basics before lighting these fires.

Namesilo's whois privacy works just fine. Perfect, in fact. So now, when this thread shows up in search results, and a reader is wondering, please disregard the OP's title.

 

[Kuffy]

Wonderful. Another disparaging thread title with little or nothing to do with the actual problem at hand. Maybe learn a little more about domain name basics before lighting these fires.

Namesilo's whois privacy works just fine. Perfect, in fact. So now, when this thread shows up in search results, and a reader is wondering, please disregard the OP's title.

It does illustrate the importance of getting a pro domainer to help with corporate domain strategy.

What should we charge for this type of advice?

 

[Jv1999]

It does illustrate the importance of getting a pro domainer to help with corporate domain strategy.

What should we charge for this type of advice?

I don't think there's any awareness in the corporate world about pro domainers for help with business strategy. They would most likely ask an seo expert or a Web dev/guy who handles IT and hosting

But OP should be more pro than most of us -- he joined np in 2008 and has over 1k posts. Not sure how he doesn't understand the basics of whois

 

[tonyk2000]

So this would be an adequate way to (at least better) shield new registrations from appearing anywhere on the internet.
I do miss this feature at quite some registrars so would be a nice thing if Namesilo could implement this.

Yes, if "reg without dns servers" feature is unavailable at NameSilo (I was lazy to check, thank you @xyo for verifying) - then it definitely makes sense to impement it. May be very useful exactly in case of _protective_ registrations for not yet released products or services. Cc @namesilo .

More of academic interest of course, but as the result of this impementation @namesilo might share the list of registries that do not support such a feature. It should be possible (and in fact necessary) to verify registry requirements with each registry, are not-empty dns fields obligatory with an ADD DOMAIN command sent by NameSilo registrar to each particular registry? Yes there should be no issues with common gtlds as we know, but policies of some smaller cctld registry may be different theoretically speaking

 

[namesilo]

Hi Everyone - Thanks for all of the feedback and discussion. We agree that it can be useful to be able to register/maintain domains without name servers. This is quite frankly something that has never been previously requested in over 8 years and 2 million domains, so it could take a little time for us to get this option in place, but it is something we will address.

@tonyk2000 - you are absolutely correct that some registries do mandate name servers so we will need to go through each that we integrate with in order to ensure that we enforce those rules.

Thanks again for all the responses, and, as always, we are happy to continue improving our services to provide the greatest level of support and number of options for the management of your domains.

 

[Kuffy]

Isn't a non-resolving doman name grounds for cancellation? I thought that was why two name servers were required. I thin the idea was to cut down on cyber-squatting. It certainly seems to give some registrars the excuse to auction your name before it expires.

Lets image that a company operating as Browns supermarkets owns the name Browns.com, and they operate in the US. Should they be allowed to cyber-squat on Browns.uk and prevent Browns Transport from using it, just because the supermarket company may decide to open a branch in the UK at some time in the future?

 

[Kuffy]

Can I recap on this situation?
The company has a business in the US, and they have branded it on a .com name - lets say Kuffy. Now they want to expand into Mexico and Canada, and want to register some ccTLDs to protect their brand.
What I think I would do is this - Register the names Kuffy.mx and Kuffy.ca, and I would put Spanish and French language sites on them, and link them to my main site. That way everything would be out in the open, and I could taste the traffic for those domains. This could be a perfectly valid reason for registering those name, and it doesn't imply a cross-border expansion.

The other alternative is to create a domain holding site in another country, and to register the names through that. They could be monetised, and have no obvious connection with the main business.

The problem doesn't really seem to be with the domain registration services, but with the internal security of the company and their "misuse" of the DNS, and the fact that they have publicised the problem.

 

[tonyk2000]

but it is something we will address

Thanks a lot, might be practical to do this through an implementation of nameserver "profiles":

1. Default (namesilo dnsowl servers), no profile deletion or modification allowed

2. Empty (no dns servers), no profile deletion of modification allowed

3. User-configurable, for example SEDO (ns1 and ns2 sedoparking)

4. User-configurable, for example MyBestHost (dns of a hosting company which one is using)

5. User-configurable
...

This way, a customer would no more need to type his desired dns server names with all dots and ns1/dns2/dns/whatever prefixes for each registration or dns servers update. It would be really more practical to configure frequently used sets of dns servers just once, and call them by a short label later.

 

[namesilo]

Thanks a lot, might be practical to do this through an implementation of nameserver "profiles":
1. Default (namesilo dnsowl servers)
2. Empty (no dns servers)
3. User-conigurable, for example SEDO (ns1 and ns2 sedoparking)
4. User-configurable, for example MyBestHost (dns of a hosting company which one is using)
This way, a customer would no more need to type his desired dns server names with all dots and ns1/dns2/dns/whatever prefixes for each registration or dns servers update. It would be really more practical to configure frequently used sets of dns servers just once, and call them by a short label later.

Yeah, that does sound like a good solution. We actually had something similar several years ago, but many people had saved name servers that were out-dated and no longer existed which caused failures with new registrations for certain registries. In short, assigning name servers that do not exist when creating new domains throws errors for some registries.

 

[Premiums]

probably i should create an account on namesilo..
good support i am really surprised

 

[Kuffy]

probably i should create an account on namesilo..
good support i am really surprised

It's not just the support. Name Silo is the registrar for domain name investors. They have got so many extras like market sites, landing pages, free privacy, Bitcoin payments, portfolio management software two level authentication, and loads of other features that you would expect, but can't get elsewhere.

 

[anantj]

Isn't a non-resolving doman name grounds for cancellation? I thought that was why two name servers were required.

I don't believe so. Domain names can be used purely as e-mail domains which require only mx records and do not require nameservers. So, afaik, naked domains are not grounds for cancellation

 

[Kuffy]

I don't believe so. Domain names can be used purely as e-mail domains which require only mx records and do not require nameservers. So, afaik, naked domains are not grounds for cancellation

I've never tried to do that. It might be worth it for some of my@tails. The base names are rubbish with premium keywords like "mpshire".

 

[anantj]

mpshire

Why is this a premium keyword (not sure if you are being sarcastic)

 

[Kuffy]

Sorry, I was being sarcastic.

Actually I like the name - I live in Hampshire, and if you put "h@" in front of the name it creates interest when mailing the local council. It's a bit of a quirky use, so it probably hasn't got much value as a domain name.

 

[Acroplex]

Nameservers are not mandatory. You can register a domain with WHOIS protection that does not "exist" in the zone files. The downside is, you can't use it

 

[Jv1999]

probably i should create an account on namesilo..
good support i am really surprised

You should definitely do it for now, because they have the cheapest .com/.net at $7. I think that applies to transfers too!

Once they go back to $9 again, then go switch to Epik.

 

[Kate]

I don't believe so. Domain names can be used purely as e-mail domains which require only mx records and do not require nameservers. So, afaik, naked domains are not grounds for cancellation

You still need nameservers to advertise your MX records. So if you choose not to set any NS, then you can't use the domain for E-mail, website or anything else.
But you can indeed use a domain for E-mail service only, then you just publish one or more MX records in your DNS zone. But if the MX is a host under the same domain name then you'll also have to add matching A/AAAA records - it has to be resolved somehow

Some registries insist on a valid set of NS, and will even conduct periodic checks, and send you mail notifications when the NS are not responding/resolving/authoritative for your names. You are supposed to fix that - or else (doesn't mean they will really delete your names though).
Known examples: .is, .fi...
So it depends on the extension.

 

[xyo]

.DE is also very strict about nameservers as they check if the delegation is valid - meaning you can only set nameservers which are already configured to respond to requests for that domain otherwise it fails.
This can be a real pain in the a... in some situations.

Though I think they are the only registry worldwide which have a really neat feature called "NSentries".
Those entries are set at registry-level (somewhat like glue-records) and act like normal nameserver records. You can set A and MX records this way and don't any nameservers then as the registry nameservers will respond to those requests.

 

[tech4]

I think I know what the thread owner is talking about. I recently registered a dot com via Namesilo and then I get called from some Indian company, Godaddy, and email from the rest of the web development team regarding my new "domain".

I don't think Namesilo is selling information or leaving it open to the public. I noticed that there's a marketer that works with Godaddy or whoever it is, pulls information from newly registered domain names, and started blasting the owner. I get those blast its annoying, but I don't really care, and I know what you mean, if it gets annoying use the privacy. But before you can mask it, most calls and email will come in. I get the emails from Godaddy, its affiliates, and alot of Indian companies.

There is a marketer that's pulling up whois registration and selling them. I happened to be a victim of such. I don't think its just Namesilo. I know for sure that marketer works with Godaddy, because the ads are from godaddy ie. make a logo, design a site, host your website, etc., It happens more than once so I am sure there's a marketer that does it.