It’s happened to most of us: you mistype the domain name for a website you wanted to visit, and end up somewhere completely different, often on a site covered in adverts.

These are typo-squatting sites. They exist to make money from people who mistype domain names. The squatters register domains which are common misspellings of brands, products or people.

Each time someone visits by mistake and clicks on an ad, the person running the site profits. And worse, sometimes the content on the site is inappropriate, objectionable or unsafe.

It’s a controversial area, and one which security company McAfee has been investigating. They recently published a big piece of research which lifts the lid on the practice a bit.

It makes for interesting reading - here are a few snippets:

• Typo-squatting is definitely on the increase. Cases filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) arbitration system increased 25% in 2006.
• Unsurprisingly, big companies and brands get targeted most. Microsoft reckons that about 2,000 domains containing Microsoft trademark terms are registered every day. Yes, every day.
• The practice affects every single area of the web, although it’s most prevalent on gaming, airline, mainstream media, adult and technology-related sites.
• The US is top for typo-squatting, but the UK is second on the list, closely followed by Portugal and Spain.

What you can do 

In practical terms, if you are registering a domain name to promote yourself or your business, it might be prudent to register some common typos as well. This will help guard against typo-squatters in future.

If people start finding your site in significant numbers, eventually the typo-squatters will probably notice it too. So if your site gets a high level of traffic, definitely think about registering some variations on the domain name.

Read the full McAfee report here.