Here's a reason why bloggers using Google's free domain service provider, Blogspot, should buy a domain name now. This is an exclusive report.
A certain "group" is allegedly planning to scrape content from blogs that don't have a custom domain yet, said a source who requested anonimity.
What the "group" will do is to look for a popular blog that's on a sub-domain, e.g. <example>.blogspot.com, and copy its content, the source said.
Web scraping, according to a Wikipedia entry, "is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. "Scraping sites" copy and republish content from other sites without adding any original content or value," defines Google Webmaster Tools.
Next, "they" will purchase the domain, i.e. <example>.com, and clone the blog so traffic will be "redirected" from <example>.blogspot.com to <example>.com.
URL redirection is a technique used to make a certain web page available under more than one web address.
On the Google search engine, the blog with the custom domain will probably rank higher than the one on blogspot.com as the group will build numerous backlinks to <example>.com based on keywords from the site's scraped content.
Once a convincing Page Rank (PR) is achieved for <example>.com, the domain (and the entire site with scraped content) will then be sold to a client in the black market. This is called "domain flipping" or purchasing of a high value domain name and resell it for profit.
The "group" earns thousands of dollars in this business, the source revealed.
Our recommendation
Blogspot bloggers can avoid becoming a victim by doing the following:
- Purchase the desired domain name immediately;
- Make a legal removal request; or
- Go for a DMCA takedown against infringing websites.