Buy domain that competitor accidentally links to from footer?

[randyriot]

Hi everyone,

one of my competitors has a link in their footer that is meant to point to their own homepage (let's say example.com) but instead points to example111.com, i.e. their brand followed by "111". Curiously, example111.com is currently not registered.

The issue affects *all* of their pages. The link is in the footer right next to the links to their privacy policy etc.

From what I can see on archive.org, this has been there anywhere from 1 month to 1 year; the archived page from mid-2019 does not contain this mistake.

I'm thinking if I should register example111.com and have it redirect to my website.

The competitor does not update their website very often and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice this for a while, or not at all.

For context, my competitor has an Ahrefs DR in the 40 range, and my website in the 50 range; both my competitor and I have about the same number of referring domains (low 4 digits).

I do not expect this will be a gigantic value driver for my link profile, but I kind of like the idea of trolling them - as long as I don't need to fear any negative repercussions by e.g. Google.

Thanks!

[lucy24]

Depends what “not registered” means. If you can grab it for $14.95 or whatever your registrar currently charges, I don’t think I could resist the temptation to get it just for ###s and giggles. No point in keeping it longer than a year, since by that time Competitor will have noticed.

But if it’s currently in the hands of a domain-name dragon demanding something in 3 or 4 digits, don’t bother.

[engine]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, randyriot.

It would be an obvious thing to do, but, of course, it will be relatively short lived.

If the other business is monitoring their site they may find out sooner.

[JorgeV]

Hello,

> their brand their brand followed by "111"

Be careful, because, registering a domain name which is a close variant from a registered brand name , trademark, etc... can be a source of dispute and lawsuit.

[mnraza011]

I don't think so this is a wise idea. Despite investing in registering example111.com you can invest it on SEO would far better.

[tangor]

Chuckles ... tempting? Maybe. PITA in the long run. Quite possible.

ICAAN resolutions generally side with the domain holder, not the typo grabber.

[wygk]

A bunch of footer links from one domain will carry negligible value. I don't think it's worth the $15 you'll spend to register it, let alone your time.