This Is What You Need To Know About Impostor Sites With Lookalike URLs
- 1 February, 2019
- Jason Ferry
- Lookalike URLs
A new warning regarding impostor websites will be carried out by Google. This is to alert all Chrome Browser users if they’re accessing possible impostor sites. These sites have URLs that looks almost exactly like the URLs of well-known sites. Now, what should users, site owners, and even SEO experts take note of this?
First and foremost, impostor sites typically use a so-called “homograph attack”. For instance, PayPal once registered the lookalike URL – “PayPa1.com.” and redirected it to the proper URL “PayPal.com”. But aside from this type of tactic, scammers also utilise another manoeuvre called URL hijacking or typosquatting. They use certain domains with slight typographical errors to direct people to what looks like a trusted site. Furthermore, such scammers may even register those lookalike URLs and try to steal user information.
In relation to the warning, Google engineers were reported to be testing a new feature (Navigation suggestions for lookalike URLs), which can be used to confirm if a user is really meant to access a particular URL. While this feature isn’t enabled by default, users can still enable it manually by copying and pasting this, chrome://flags/#enable-lookalike-url-navigation-suggestions, in the Chrome address bar.
Details of this SEO post were gathered from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-chrome-to-warn-users-about-impostor-sites-with-lookalike-urls/290621/. Click the link for more information.
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