A number of businesses have asked me about domain listing invoices they’ve received from a company they don’t recognize. More often than not, it’s one of these:
- National Domains, LLC
- Domain Listings, LLC
- Domain-Listings.org
Are Domain Companies Legit?
These are companies that manage website directories online. Some are even listed by the Better Business Bureau (with terrible reviews). These companies call and send “advertising notices” to businesses and website owners to get them to pay for advertising they don’t want.
You may have received a misleading document that looks like an invoice. Beware that it is not an invoice and you are under no obligation to pay for anything. It looks something like this.
But They Have My Information. How Did They Get It?
Great question. When you register a domain, your information (domain, name, phone, email, address, etc.) becomes publicly available unless you purchase a domain name privacy service that is available through your domain name provider. It usually costs less than $20 per year and I highly recommend it.
Examples of legit domain name providers include (but are not limited to):
- BlueHost
- GoDaddy
- HostGator
- NameCheap
- Google Domains
You can find your public information on whois.com. Type in your domain (example.com) and your information will pop up.
How To Spot Domain Listing Scammers
Be Aware of the Cost of Owning a Website
To own a website you need to register a domain and purchase hosting. This cost varies depending on which company you purchase through, but a domain shouldn’t cost more than $50 per year and hosting will probably be under $50 per month.
Know Your Domain and Hosting Providers
Pay attention to the companies you’ve purchased your domain and hosting from. They aren’t always the same. You can purchase a domain through GoDaddy and hosting through BlueHost. A lot of people have an arrangement like this because they can get cheaper deals.
If you’re getting invoices relating to your website from companies other than your providers, they’re junk.
Wording: This is Not a Bill
Pay close attention to the wording below the price section. It says something like this: “THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER.”
There’s usually language like “We are not a Domain Registrar and we do not Register or Renew Domain Names” somewhere in there as well.
They legally need to add this so they don’t get sued.
Look Up the Company Sending the Invoice
Let’s be realistic, domain listing companies are getting really good at misleading people. Those invoices look legit, so if you’re not sure, just do a quick search for the company in your favorite search engine. You’ll quickly see reviews or complaints if it’s a scam.
Another thing to pay attention to is the People Also Ask section in Google. If people are frequently asking “is this company legit” or “do I have to pay this” that’s a good indicator that it’s trash.
Are There Benefits to Paying Domain Listing Sites?
Short answer: none that are worth the cost.
Backlinks and Search Engine Rank
Domain listing companies claim they can increase your rank in search engines because they’re providing a link to your website. I’d like to share an SEO lesson with you to help you understand why these websites are not going to improve your rank.
Let’s start with backlinks. A backlink is a link from another website to yours and it acts as a vote of confidence. In a way it says, hey Google (Bing, Duck Duck Go, etc.) we trust this website for information. If you have links from high-quality websites, let me repeat HIGH-QUALITY, then search engines trust you a bit more too. This helps you rank higher in search results.
Before we get too far, what is a high-quality website?
Websites that provide relevant, useful content and a good user experience are trustworthy.
- Established Institutions (think .gov or .edu)
- Expertise (look for facts, not opinions)
- Clarity and value in content
- Links to reliable sources
- Links from reliable websites
- Up-to-date information
- Few to no ads
Sometimes these sites are universities or hospitals, other times they are news sources or how-to sites that people trust. You get the point.
Okay, back to ranking with backlinks. The reason a link from domain listing websites isn’t helpful is that they aren’t trustworthy, as you might have imagined.
Few websites link to domain listing websites because they aren’t valuable. For example, if you were going to list your restaurant website in a directory, you would likely think of Yelp first.
Clearly, Yelp has more linking domains and links in general than nationaldomainsllc.com. To be clear, not all links are good links. If a trustworthy website links to yours, you’re good to go. But if you have a bunch of links from low-quality websites (think fake news, domain listings, porn, etc.) then you’re lumped in with junk websites too. This won’t help you.
Traffic to Your Website
Domain listings companies also claim to send traffic to your website, which is supposed to make them worth the value you pay. Spoiler: they are not.
Let’s look at nationaldomainsllc.com VS a reliable website like yelp.com.
nationaldomainsllc.com is losing traffic over time and has significantly less traffic than Yelp. If I were listing my local business in a directory and wanted traffic, it would be to Yelp without a doubt.
Conclusion
I hope this information helped you today! If you found this post useful, please share it with other business owners so we can prevent them from being misled by scams in the future. Have a wonderful day!
