13 year old domain name ExpiredDomains.com has, well expired and is on public domain auction! View Auction

Expired domains are some of the most popular for domain name investors, so clearly this domain has some major potential. According to some data provided with the expired domain auction, the domain already has some built in traffic with an estimate at around 1,400 visitors per month. I’m sure some of that traffic is due to the popular expired domain site on ExpiredDomains.net, which is likely the best free expired domain tools offered.

Current bid price is only $15 and the auction is No Reserve.

This would be a nice domain to have for any service like GoDaddy, SnapNames, NameJet, Epic or Pool who offers expired domain names daily but it clearly could do well in the hands of somebody that is deep into the expired domains market. I wouldn’t mind owning it but I would expect this domain to fetch a pretty penny by the end.

The past owner currently is not known, because whois privacy is on the domain and has been for several years. It doesn’t appear there was a site on the domain prior to expiring. It should be a fun auction to watch. The auction ends 02/05/2012.

Check it out!

If you were to do a search on Google.com for google keyword tool, which is a pretty popular search term… I was pretty surprised to see two domain names that contain the trademarked word "google" and they rank in the top 5 for the search term!

GoogleKeywordTool.com ranks in the natural #3 position. IMO, the site "looks like" it would be owned by Google, but it is not. According to whois records, Chris Wilde owns the domain/site. He purchased the domain name after it expired according to the about page on the site.

Google is a registered trademark and IMO is very confusing to many page layouts that Google uses. There are no ads currently on the site, but Chris did state "Recently, after updating my Google Analytics account, a Google AdSense rep called me. She made the point that content-sensitive ads could help my visitors. She’s probably right. Maybe I’ll add a few Google Ads."

Although all the links on the site DO go to Google, I think by Google ranking the domain name very well, even though it contains Google’s trademark could make somebody think it is OK to cybersquat. Chris did state the site sometimes gets over 35K visitors a month and IMO is benefiting from the traffic in several ways, like promoting his film editing.

There is a very small disclaimer at the bottom of the site, which states the site is not affiliated with Google, but that won’t cut it in court.

If Chris is OK with it and Google is OK with it (heck a Google rep even called Chris and said to put ads on the site) then I think it’s OK for me to do it, you to do it and really anybody to do it as well.

GooglePosition.com ranks in the natural #5 position.

This site has ads.

This site doesn’t have a disclaimer that it is not affiliated with Google Inc.

This site displays a ton of terms that relate directly to Google’s products.

What’s My Point

Just because it may seem "OK" to do something you know will likely get you in hot water, don’t always judge a book by its cover.

Google at any time could de-index the sites, file a UDRP and get the domains and I’m sure much more. IMO, I just think by Google allowing the sites to rank very well for a popular search term, while containing their trademark terms in the domain is simply silly. It is like away of saying…. register our trademark in your domain name and promote your business like you are us! Sweet.

Some things I see really make me shake my head and this was one of them today. Maybe you feel differently about it? Let me know what you think, maybe I’m just missing something.

I haven’t been posting much lately as I have been under the weather. I am having some kind of heart issues, but hopefully with all the tests they have run last week, they (doctors) can discover something.

Speaking of discovering, I haven’t done a DotWeekly Discoveries for sometime now, so on a day when the Packers should be playing but they are not… I had some time to kill, so I thought I would share a few domains some larger companies have been registering lately. Here is just a small sampling of the past couple of days.

Walgreens appears to be doing something relating to BalanceRewards.com as it just registered that domain and several others relating to it, like DrugStoreBalance.com and DrugStoreBlanceRewards.com . Similar domains like TakeCareHealthBalance.com, TakeCareHealthBalanceRewards.com, WalgreensBalance.com and WalgreensBalanceRewards.com were also registered.

Netflix appears to have purchased another domain similar to a recent story I wrote about them paying $1K for Netflix.tv . This time around the domain name was NetflixDvd.com . The domain appears to have been purchased about November 2011.

1-800Flowers registered the domain name FreshForMe.com

MLB registered the domain names MajorNational.com, MajorNationals.com as well as the matching .net domains.

The Topps Company registered the domain names ToppsBunt.com and ToppsPennant.com

General Mills registered the domain names BreakfastDrive.com, BreakfastDriveVip.com, BreakfastBlitz.com and BreakfastBlitzVip.com. They also registered all those domains with "Pillsbury" at the start.

Universal Motown Records registered the domain name MusicFromTheVoice.com . They also registered TheVoiceMusic.net but do not own the .com, as that is owned by HugeDomains.com

The Procter & Gamble Company registered the domain name PGSocialApps.com

Sony registered the domain name SmartEnergyEcosystem.com

Sunbeam registered the domain name MyOster.com . Sunbeam owns a product line with the brand name "Oster".

General Electric Company registered the domain names NapsOnline.com and NapsOnlineTest.com . They also registered the domain name CelebrateWhatWorks.com

Publicis Groupe registered the domain name FolgersWhatsBrewing.com . The Folgers brand was sold by P&G to J. M. Smucker Co in 2008. Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company. Publicis also registered the domain name IgniteYourDay.com .

Marriott registered the domain name LiveLifeToDiscover.com

JPMorgan Chase Co registered the domain name GetInsideAccess.com

Mindspark registered the domain names TimeWacker.com, TimeWackers.com, TimeWhacker.com and TimeWhackers.com. They also registered AllDayLaughs.com .

Blackrock Financial registered the domain name WhatDoIDoWithMyMoney.com

Sony Pictures registered the domain name ThatIsMyBoy.com and several relating to it like ThatIsMyBoyMovie.com etc.

Novartis registered 27 similar domains to ExelonPatchOffer.com. The remaining domains all have a "number" at the end like ExelonPatchOffer11.com

Dreamworks must love ME, because they registered RiseOfTheGuardians-Jamie.com and .net! Had to share that one and if you think I’m kidding that they registered it, here you go.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what some of these companies have been registering lately. If you are wondering, insurance companies register A LOT of domain names but I didn’t share any of them, simply because they register hundreds of them.