Put your disputed domain names to work

by Dino Kusanović

The good work doesn’t stop once you win a dispute. You spent valuable time and money  on recovering that one problematic domain name via a UDRP dispute, now it’s time to reap the benefits!

First things first, transfer the disputed domain name to Com Laude and switch the nameservers – this will stop any abusive content from being displayed on the disputed domain name, and, what’s even better, you will be able to track its DNS traffic. This can be used as quick and simple metric for measuring ROI, as you will know the value of a click on your main website.

Speaking of your main website, why not redirect the disputed domain name to it? Turn those clicks into potential sales. This is especially satisfying when the disputed domain name resolved to a fake web shop selling your counterfeit goods. The bad actor would’ve spent time and money building its SEO, and now you get to turn the tables. Convert a fraction of those redirects into sales and the dispute will pay for itself in no time!

Alternatively, you can set up an educational webpage to point the disputed domain names to. There is no benefit in trying to hide the existence of the abusive domain names. By educating your stakeholders you are empowering them to be vigilant of abusive domain names, and to only trust your official domain name as the one true source of genuine information for your brand.

The last step involves some DNS records:

domain.tld TXT value: “v=spf1 -all”
*.domain.tld TXT value: “v=spf1 -all”
_dmarc.domain.tld TXT value: “v=DMARC1;p=reject;sp=reject;adkim=s;aspf=s;fo=1;rua=mailto:email_address_for_reports@client_domain.tld”
*._domainkey.domain.tld TXT value: “v=DKIM1; p=”
domain.tld MX value: “.” priority: 0

By setting up these records, you will make it harder for any bad actor to use the recovered domain name in any further email scams, as the records added help prevent email spoofing. In fact, you should add these records across your domain name portfolio.

By taking these few steps, you can make the recovered domain name work for you. Contact your Domain Strategist today to make the necessary changes.