Defensive Domain Registration: Protect Your Brand From Cybersquatters

Every day, brands discover that someone else has registered a domain dangerously close to theirs. Defensive domain registration is the practice of proactively securing domains that could be used to harm your brand. Here's why it matters and how to do it right.

What Is Defensive Domain Registration?

Defensive registration means buying domains you don't plan to actively use — purely to prevent others from using them against you. This includes alternate extensions, common misspellings, and variations of your brand name.

Real Threats You're Protecting Against

Cybersquatting

Someone registers your brand name in an extension you haven't claimed (yourbrand.net) and tries to sell it back to you at an inflated price. While UDRP proceedings can help, they cost $1,500+ and take months.

Phishing and Fraud

Bad actors register look-alike domains (yourbrand-login.com) to create fake login pages and steal customer credentials. This damages your reputation and exposes customers to fraud.

Competitor Exploitation

A competitor registers your brand name in a new extension and redirects it to their site, potentially capturing your traffic and confusing your customers.

Brand Dilution

Someone uses a variant of your domain for unrelated or unsavory content, associating your brand with material you have no control over.

What to Register Defensively

Extension Variants

At minimum, secure your brand name in .com, .net, .org, and .co. If you're in tech, add .io and .ai. For e-commerce, consider .store and .shop.

Common Misspellings

Identify the most likely typos for your brand name. If you're "Acme," register "acm.com," "acmee.com," and "acmie.com."

Plural and Singular Forms

If your brand is "Widget," secure both "widget.com" and "widgets.com."

Hyphenated Versions

Country-Code Domains

If you operate or plan to operate internationally, register your brand in relevant ccTLDs (.co.uk, .de, .ca, .com.au).

Creating a Defensive Registration Plan

Step 1: Audit Your Current Domains

List every domain you currently own and identify gaps.

Step 2: Prioritize by Risk

Not every variant needs protection. Focus on extensions and misspellings most likely to be exploited. Use your web analytics to see what typos people actually make.

Step 3: Set a Budget

Domains cost $10-50/year each. Decide how much annual spend makes sense for your brand's size and risk level.

Step 4: Register and Redirect

Purchase the domains and set up 301 redirects to your primary site. Don't leave them parked with registrar ads — that looks unprofessional.

Step 5: Monitor and Maintain

Set all domains to auto-renew. Use monitoring services like DomainTools or MarkMonitor to alert you when new domains are registered that are similar to your brand.

Legal Tools for Protection

If someone has already registered a domain that infringes on your trademark:

UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) — File a complaint through WIPO. Costs $1,500+ and takes 2-3 months.
URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) — Faster and cheaper than UDRP but only suspends the domain; doesn't transfer it to you.
Trademark Claims Service — When new TLDs launch, trademark holders can register for alerts when someone tries to register matching domains.

Prevention through defensive registration is almost always cheaper and faster than legal remedies.

How Much Should You Spend?

A reasonable defensive portfolio for a small business:

Primary .com: ~$12/year
5-10 defensive domains: ~$60-120/year
Total: Under $150/year

For the cost of one business lunch, you protect your brand from potentially devastating impersonation.

Start with a Complete Brand Audit

Before registering defensive domains, understand the full landscape of your brand name's availability.

Try BrandScout to check your brand name across all major domain extensions and social platforms. You'll quickly see which variations are available to register and which might already be in someone else's hands.