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Is it immoral to redirect competitors' misspelled URLs to your site?
This morning I mistakenly typed in www.mgmail.com trying to get to Gmail, to my surprise mgmail.com redirects to amazon.com. Why would Amazon go to this extent to drive traffic that probably doesn't convert at all?
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4 Answers
That is a very good question. Any domain that isn't registered is fair game, but the general practice is sly at best. In this example however, it's hard to say if it was done to steal traffic; it's very possible amazon was working on a project (with or without google) and registered the domain to secure it.
Overall, this may be a good thing. I've seen sites like this (one letter off of a popular domain) and the owner(s) spent meticulous effort to make it look like the original site in an obvious attempt to steal information. A site redirect such as Amazon might actually save someone (unknowingly) compromising their information.
Paul,
That tactic falls into the category known as interceptive marketing. As far as morals go that is a question you would have to answer for yourself, but the fact that you are asking pretty much says that it is not a respected business practice.
Paul, we are consumers. If Amazon has some sort of cookie tracking installed, it might be able to pick up on your recent searches and find things that you might be interested in buying. Google does this with Google Ads (targets ads based on recent searches). If you're going to check your email, especially personal mail, chances are you are slacking off at work and might be tempted to purchase something. After all, we as Americans tend to buy on impulse because we're addicted to the rush we get from it.
As for the moral part of it, I think it's brilliant and I say go for it, just make sure you also buy up your potential misspelled domains as well so that your competition doesn't do it to you.
Waht a wodnerfully thoaght provouking questoin to be askd furst thing in the mourning!
If someone typed "mgmail" and immediately realized there was a problem, what's the concern? Perhaps they investigate the found site, perhaps they bounce. If they're frustrated, frustrated at their own error or the found site? And if the found site is a near perfect copy of the intended site? What if the visitor fails to recognize the hoax (if the found site is a near perfect copy of the intended site, we assume the faux-site is for nefarious purposes)? Who is responsible? The visitor who's not paying attention, essentially TXTing while driving while browsing? The faux-site owner who is intentionally misleading people?
Is it immoral? Society decides what's immoral. What's frowned upon today is de rigueur tomorrow.
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