Google has tweaked its algorithm in order to deindex parked domains from the search engine results pages(SERPs) by introducing a new parked domain classifier. According to the search engine's Inside Search blog, "This is a new algorithm for automatically detecting parked domains. Parked domains are placeholder sites that are seldom useful and often filled with ads. They typically don’t have valuable content for our users, so in most cases we prefer not to show them."
Domain owners will also be compelled to use DNS instead of URL forwarding to clearly indicate the nameservers for the domain parking companies thus help Google crawlers to easily identify and deindex parked domains from the search engine results pages. Domain portfolio owners are however complaining of "hypocrisy" since Google too is involved in the domain parking business as a direct beneficiary of the ads it serves to parking companies' networks and also through its own Adsense for Domains service. As one popular domain blogger has said, Google has "both pie and the knife" in the domain parking industry..
Domain parking in this context refers to the practice of registering domain names and then serving PPC ads on those pages to visitors to generate revenues for the Parking companies, companies serving the adverts and the domain owners. Domain registrars also own massive portfolios of parked domain names. Some of the biggest players in the domain parking business include Sedo, Skenzo, Moniker, TrafficZ, Domain Sponsors, Namedrive plus many other registrars including GoDaddy, .The new rules will definitely cut deep into the revenues of domain parking industry. Some of the parked domains on the web include names of African countries such as ethiopia.com zambia.com lesotho.com. mozambique.com
DotConnectAfrica's application to ICANN will incorporate rights protection mechanisms that will ensure countries and geographical regions can protect their names from unauthorized use in the .africa namespace before the general availability of the domain names to all internet users.
