Hacked Sites Suffer Long Term Search Ranking Penalties

This entry was posted in Learning, Research, SEO, WordPress Security on March 16, 2016 by Dan Moen 5 Replies

During our research into what the WordPress community knows about hacked websites, we discovered that there is very little data available on the subject. We decided to conduct a survey, inviting a portion of our community to participate.

We received responses from 1,605 people who reported having a website they manage hacked in the last year. We learned a lot. Thank you to everyone who participated!

In a related effort, we also added an article to our Learning Center focused on recovering SEO after a hack.
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How does a hacked website impact SEO

We approached this question from a number of angles. The first thing we asked was whether the website was flagged by Google as hacked or containing malicious content. Of the respondents who knew, 46.5% reported being flagged. We were surprised at how low this number was. With over half of the sites not being flagged by Google, we can’t rely on Google to alert us to a hack.

It also means that if you move quickly, you have a good chance of cleaning your site before Google discovers it, potentially avoiding a search engine traffic impact. This is a strong indicator of the value of having your own malware scanner like Wordfence installed that is checking your site regularly.

The next thing we looked at was the impact of a hacked website on traffic. The chart below shows good news and bad. The good news is that 34% of you said that a hack had no impact on search traffic.

The bad news is that 66% saw search traffic impacted by a hack and 14% saw a traffic drop of over 75%.

One thing that occurred to us as we analyzed the data was that websites that Google flagged as hacked might see a greater drop in search traffic. To test that hypothesis we looked at the same question, but just for people who reported being flagged by Google.

As expected, if your site is hacked and Google notices, you will see a much greater drop in search engine traffic: For people flagged by Google, 66% of them saw a drop in traffic compared to the average of 45%.

Based on this we can conclude that the impact on traffic is greater if Google flags your site as hacked. The lesson: Don’t get hacked and if you do, scramble to fix it before Google notices.

One of the unfortunate things we noticed is that 45% of respondents report that their traffic never returned to normal, even after cleaning.

We were curious to see whether search engine traffic improves over time after a site is cleaned. To do this we compared sites that were hacked longer ago and their search traffic now vs sites that were hacked more recently and their search traffic now.

What we was a little shocking: Sites that have had more time to recover their rankings did not show an improvement compared to sites that have had less time. This is really worrying because it indicates that sites that are hacked and penalized by Google suffer a long term penalty on their rankings.

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How long does it take to recover from a hack?

In the survey we asked respondents to tell us how many days it took them to restore their websites to normal following a hack. 40.9% were able to restore their site to normal within a day. We’re guessing those lucky site owners had a recent backup available that the attacker had not compromised.

On the other end of the spectrum, 16.6% of respondents reported taking more than a week to recover. The average time to recover from a hacked site is 7.49 days.

We also asked what steps were taken to clean respondents’ websites. 85.6% were able to clean the site themselves. Only 3.7% turned to friends for help, while 14.4% paid a professional to do it for them. We hope that our page on how to clean a hacked site has helped contribute to the high percentage of people who are successfully cleaning their own sites.

We urge you to review your website backup approach. Ideally you should be taking automated backups frequently, storing them off site and retaining them for as long as is feasible. Nothing makes recovering from a hack easier than having a recent site backup available.
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How much does a hacked website cost?

We knew going in that we would receive responses from a very diverse group of website owners, so we knew that the cost of hacked website would vary dramatically across sites.

For your reference, the question we asked was: “What was the total cost of your hacked site including downtime, lost revenue and any other costs incurred?”

To calculate this number we disqualified estimates that were clearly out of range. We also kept all the responses that said the hack cost them nothing and allowed those responses to bring down the average number. We determined that the average cost of a hacked website is $2,518.

Every site is different, but our universal take-away from this is that hacked websites are expensive. They can cost you a lot of money in downtime, lost revenue due to adverse SEO impact and repair costs. They can also impact your reputation with your customers. And cleaning a hacked website takes you away from what you would rather be doing.

Your best course of action is to do everything you can to avoid getting hacked in the first place, something we are very passionate about here at Wordfence.
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Conclusion

We hope you found the data in this article as interesting as we did. The data provides a strong incentive to get serious about website security, doing everything you can to prevent attackers from compromising your site in the first place. The survey contained a lot more interesting data. Look for a related blog post where we share some of that data next week.

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Source: //www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/03/hacked-site-impact-seo/

March 16, 2016 / Useful Tips

PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates
Domain Name Registration Agreement

Last Revised: November 29, 2017

PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY, AS IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.

1. OVERVIEW

This Domain Name Registration Agreement (this "Agreement") is entered into by and between PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates") and you, and is made effective as of the date of electronic acceptance. This Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions of your use of PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ Domain Name Registration services (the "Domain Name Registration Services" or the "Services"). The terms "we", "us" or "our" shall refer to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates. The terms "you", "your", "User" or "customer" shall refer to any individual or entity who accepts this Agreement. Unless otherwise specified, nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to confer any third-party rights or benefits.

Your electronic acceptance of this Agreement signifies that you have read, understand, acknowledge and agree to be bound by this Agreement, which incorporates by reference each of (i) PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ Universal Terms of Service Agreement ("UTOS"), (ii) all agreements, guidelines, policies, practices, procedures, registration requirements or operational standards of the top-level domain ("TLD") in which you register any domain (“Registry Policies”), and (iii) any plan limits, product disclaimers or other restrictions presented to you on the Domain Name Registration Services landing page of the PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates website (this “Site”).

You acknowledge and agree that (i) PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, in its sole and absolute discretion, may change or modify this Agreement, and any policies or agreements which are incorporated herein, at any time, and such changes or modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting to this Site, and (ii) your use of this Site or the Services found at this Site after such changes or modifications have been made shall constitute your acceptance of this Agreement as last revised. If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement as last revised, do not use (or continue to use) this Site or the Services found at this Site. In addition, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may occasionally notify you of changes or modifications to this Agreement by email. It is therefore very important that you keep your shopper account (“Shopper Account”) information, including your email address, current. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates assumes no liability or responsibility for your failure to receive an email notification if such failure results from an inaccurate or out-of-date email address. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") accredited registrar. You acknowledge and agree that as an ICANN-accredited registrar, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is bound by an agreement with ICANN. You acknowledge and agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may modify this Agreement in order to comply with its agreement with ICANN, as well as any other terms and conditions set forth by (i) ICANN and/or (ii) the registry applicable to the TLD or country code top level domain ("ccTLD") in question. As used herein, the terms "registry", "Registry", "registry operator" or "Registry Operator" shall refer to the registry applicable to the TLD or ccTLD in question.

2. PROVISIONS SPECIFIC TO ALL REGISTRATIONS

Unless otherwise noted, the provisions below in this Section 2 are generally applicable to all TLDs that we offer. Special provisions specific to any TLD or ccTLD (those in addition to posted Registry Policies) are identified elsewhere below in this Agreement.

Registry Policies. You agree to be bound by all Registry Policies (defined above in this Agreement) applicable to your domain name registration (at any level). IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO VISIT THE APPLICABLE TLD SITE AND READ AND REVIEW ALL APPLICABLE REGISTRY POLICIES PRIOR TO YOUR REGISTRATION IN THE TLD. Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, the Registry Operator of the TLD in which the domain name registration is made is and shall be an intended third party beneficiary of this Agreement. As such the parties to this agreement acknowledge and agree that the third party beneficiary rights of the Registry Operator have vested and that the Registry Operator has relied on its third party beneficiary rights under this Agreement in agreeing to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates being a registrar for the respective TLD. The third party beneficiary rights of the Registry Operator will survive any termination of this Agreement.
Registration Requirements. To the extent any TLD or ccTLD requires you meet eligibility (e.g., residency for .JP, .EU, etc.), validation (e.g., DNS validation) or other authentication requirements as a condition to registering a domain name in the TLD, you agree that by submitting an application or registering or renewing your domain name, you represent and warrant that: (a) all information provided to register or renew the domain name (including all supporting documents, if any) is true, complete and correct, and is not misleading in any way, and the application is made in good faith; (b) you meet, and will continue to meet, the eligibility criteria prescribed in the Registry Policies for the applicable TLD for the duration of the domain name registration; (c) you have not previously submitted an application for the domain name with another registrar using the same eligibility criteria, and the other registrar has rejected the application (if applicable); (d) you acknowledge and agree that even if the domain name is accepted for registration, your entitlement to register the domain name may be challenged by others who claim to have an entitlement to the domain name; and (e) you acknowledge and agree that the Registry or the registrar can cancel the registration of the domain name if any of the warranties required are found to be untrue, incomplete, incorrect or misleading.
Ownership. You acknowledge and agree that registration of a domain name does not create any proprietary right for you, the registrar, or any other person in the name used as a domain name or the domain name registration and that the entry of a domain name in the Registry shall not be construed as evidence or ownership of the domain name registered as a domain name. You shall not in any way transfer or purport to transfer a proprietary right in any domain name registration or grant or purport to grant as security or in any other manner encumber or purport to encumber a domain name registration.
ICANN Requirements. You agree to comply with the ICANN requirements, standards, policies, procedures, and practices for which each applicable Registry Operator has monitoring responsibility in accordance with the Registry Agreement between ICANN and itself or any other arrangement with ICANN.
Indemnification of Registry. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless (within 30 days of demand) the Registry Operator and Registry Service Provider and their subcontractors, subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, shareholders, directors, officers, employees, accountants, attorneys, insurers, agents, predecessors, successors and assigns, from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, costs, expenses, causes of action or other liabilities of any kind, whether known or unknown, including reasonable legal and attorney’s fees and expenses, in any way arising out of, relating to, or otherwise in connection with the your domain name registration, including, without limitation, the use, registration, extension, renewal, deletion, and/or transfer thereof and/or the violation of any applicable terms or conditions governing the registration. You shall not enter into any settlement or compromise of any such indemnifiable claim without Registrar’s or Registry Operator’s prior written consent, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, and you agree that these indemnification obligations shall survive the termination or expiration of the Agreement for any reason. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGISTRY OPERATOR BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFIT OR GOODWILL, FOR ANY MATTER, WHETHER SUCH LIABILITY IS ASSERTED ON THE BASIS OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ANY BREACH OF THIS AGREEMENT OR ITS INCORPORATED AGREEMENTS AND POLICIES YOUR INABILITY TO USE THE DOMAIN NAME, YOUR LOSS OF DATA OR FILES OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF THE REGISTRY OPERATOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Regulated TLDs. For domain name registration in any “Regulated” TLD, you acknowledge and agree your registration is subject to the following additional requirements: (a) comply with all applicable laws, including those that relate to privacy, data collection, consumer protection (including in relation to misleading and deceptive conduct), fair lending, debt collection, organic farming, disclosure of data, and financial disclosures; (b) if you collect and maintain sensitive health and financial data you must implement reasonable and appropriate security measures commensurate with the offering of those services, as defined by applicable law. Regulated TLDs include: .games, .juegos, .school, .schule, .toys, .eco, .care, .diet, .fitness, .health, .clinic, .dental, .healthcare, .capital, .cash, .broker, .claims, .exchange, .finance, .financial, .fund, .investments, .lease, .loans, .market, .money, .trading, .credit, .insure, .tax, .mortgage, .degree, .mba, .audio, .book, .broadway, .film, .movie, .music, .software, .fashion, .video, .app, .art, .band, .cloud, .data, .digital, .fan, .free, .gratis, .discount, .sale, .media, .news, .online, .pictures, .radio, .show, .theater, .tours, .accountants, .architect, .associates, .broker, .legal, .realty, .vet, .engineering, .law, .limited, .show; .theater; .town, .city, .reise, and .reisen
Highly Regulated TLDs. In addition to the requirements for Regulated TLDs, domain name registration in any Highly-Regulated TLD is subject to the following requirements: (a) you will provide administrative contact information, which must be kept up‐to‐date, for the notification of complaints or reports of registration abuse, as well as the contact details of the relevant regulatory, or Industry self‐regulatory, bodies in their main place of business; (b) you represent that you possess any necessary authorizations, charters, licenses and/or other related credentials for participation in the sector associated with such Highly‐regulated TLD; and (c) you will report any material changes to the validity of you authorizations, charters, licenses and/or other related credentials for participation in the sector associated with the Highly‐regulated TLD to ensure you continue to conform to the appropriate regulations and licensing requirements and generally conduct your activities in the interests of the consumers they serve. Highly Regulated TLDs include: .abogado, .attorney, .bank, .bet, .bingo, .casino .charity (and IDN equivalent xn--30rr7y), .cpa, .corp, creditcard, .creditunion .dds, .dentist, .doctor, .fail, .gmbh, .gripe, .hospital, .inc, .insurance, .lawyer, .lifeinsurance, .llc, .llp, .ltda, .medical, .mutuelle, .pharmacy, .poker, .university, .sarl, .spreadbetting, .srl, .sucks, .surgery .university, .vermogensberater, .vesicherung, and .wtf. For .doctor, registrants who hold themselves out to be licensed medical practitioners must be able to demonstrate to the Registrar and Registry, upon request, that they hold the applicable license.
Special Safeguard TLDs. In addition to the requirements for Regulated and Highly-Regulated TLDs, by registering a domain name in any “Special-Safeguard” TLD, you agree to take reasonable steps to avoid misrepresenting or falsely implying that you or your business is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by one or more country's or government's military forces if such affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement does not exist. Special Safeguard TLDs include: .army, .navy, .airforce
Third Party Beneficiary. Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, the Registry Operator for any TLD in which your register a domain name is and shall be an intended third party beneficiary of this Agreement. As such the parties to this agreement acknowledge and agree that the third party beneficiary rights of the Registry Operator have vested and that the Registry Operator has relied on its third party beneficiary rights under this Agreement in agreeing to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates being a registrar for the TLD. Third party beneficiary rights of the Registry Operator shall survive any termination of this Agreement.
Variable and Non-Uniform Pricing. You acknowledge, understand and agree that certain domain names in certain TLDs are established by Registry Policies to be variably priced (i.e., standard v. premium names) and/or may have non-uniform renewal registration pricing (such that the Fee for a domain name registration renewal may differ from other domain names in the same TLD, e.g., renewal registration for one domain may be $100.00 and $33.00 for a different domain name).
Restriction on Availability of Privacy or Proxy. You acknowledge and agree that, as dictated by the Registry Policies, for certain TLDs you may not be permitted to purchase private or proxy TLD registrations. In such case, you must register for any and all TLD registrations using your personal information, which information you represent and warrant is current, accurate and complete.

3. FEES AND PAYMENTS

(A) GENERAL TERMS, INCLUDING AUTOMATIC RENEWAL TERMS

You agree to pay any and all prices and fees due for Services purchased or obtained at this Site at the time you order the Services. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates expressly reserves the right to change or modify its prices and fees at any time, and such changes or modifications shall be posted online at this Site and effective immediately without need for further notice to you. If you have purchased or obtained Services for a period of months or years, changes or modifications in prices and fees shall be effective when the Services in question come up for renewal as further described below.

Unless otherwise specifically noted (for reasons such as those highlighted in Section 2(x) above), the renewal price for any domain name in any TLD will be the same as the list (non-sale) price shown when you search for and select a domain, and again in the cart prior to purchase. For example, if the list price is $16.99, and a different renewal price is not specifically identified, then the renewal price is also $16.99. Likewise, if a domain name has a sale price of $12.99, with the list (non-sale) price shown (as a strike-through) at $16.99, the renewal price will be $16.99*.

*Renewal price subject to change prior to actual date of renewal.

For all other terms and conditions relating to fees, payment, refund and billing, etc. applicable to the Services offered under the scope of this Agreement, please refer to the “Fees and Payments” section of our UTOS.

(B) DOMAIN NAME RENEWAL TERMS

When you register a domain name, you will have two renewal options: (i) "Automatic Renewal" (ii) "Extended Automatic Renewal", and (iii) "Manual Renewal":

Automatic Renewal. Automatic Renewal is the default setting. Therefore, unless you select Extended Automatic Renewal, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will enroll you in Automatic Renewal. Domain names will automatically renew, for a period equivalent to the length of your original domain name registration, any domain name that is up for renewal and will take payment from the Payment Method you have on file with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, at PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ then current rates. Thus, if you have chosen to register your domain name for one (1) year, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will automatically renew it for one (1) year. If you have chosen to register your domain name for two (2) years, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will automatically renew it for two (2) years, and so on.
Extended Automatic Renewal. If you enroll in the Extended Automatic Renewal plan, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will automatically renew any domain name that is up for renewal for an additional one-year period on each and every anniversary of your domain name registration, so the initial registration period will always remain intact. Thus, if you have chosen to register your domain name for two (2) years, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will automatically renew it for one (1) additional year on each and every anniversary of your domain name registration so your two (2) year registration period will always remain intact. If you have chosen to register your domain name for five (5) years, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will automatically renew it for one (1) additional year on each and every anniversary of your domain name registration so your five (5) year registration period will always remain intact, and so on. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will take payment from the Payment Method you have on file with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, at PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ then current one-year domain name registration rate.
Manual Renewal. If you have elected to turn off automatic renewal and cancel the product (i.e., cancel the domain name registration) effective at expiration of the then current term, you may nonetheless elect to manually renew the domain name at anytime prior to its expiration date by logging into your Account Manager and manually implementing the renewal or by calling customer service (should you in fact want the domain name to be renewed). If you fail to manually implement the renewal before the expiration date, the domain name will be cancelled and you will no longer have use of that name.

All renewals will be subject to the terms of this Agreement, as it may be amended from time to time, and you acknowledge and agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement (as amended) for all renewed domains. Domain name renewals will be non-refundable. In the event that we are unable to automatically renew your domain name for the renewal option selected for any reason, we may automatically renew your domain name for a period less than your original registration period to the extent necessary for the transaction to succeed. If for any reason PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is not able to take the payment from the Payment Method you have on file, and you fail to respond to our notices, your domain name registration will expire. It is your responsibility to keep your Payment Method information current, which includes the expiration date if you are using a credit card.

For certain ccTLDs (.am, .at, .be, .br, .ca, .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .de, .eu, .fm, .gs, .it, .jp, .ms, .nu, .nz, .co.nz, .net.nz, .org.nz, .tc, .tk, .tw, .com.tw, .org.tw, .idv.tw, .uk, and .vg), renewal billing will occur on the first day of the month prior to the month of expiration.

For certain ccTLDs (.am, .at, .be, .ca, .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .de, .eu, .fm, .gs, .it, .jp, .ms, .nu, .nz, .co.nz, .net.nz, .org.nz, .tc, .tk, .tw, .com.tw, .org.tw, .idv.tw, .uk, and .vg), renewal will occur, or must occur manually if the product was previously cancelled, no later than the 20th of the month prior to the expiration date, or your domain name will be placed in non-renewal status. For some ccTLDs (.es) renewal must be processed no later than seven days before the expiration date, or your domain name will be placed in non-renewal status. When the domain name is in non-renewal status, you can renew the domain name only by calling PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates and requesting that the domain name be renewed. You cannot renew the domain name through your Account Manager. If you fail to manually implement the renewal of any cancelled product before the expiration date, the domain name will be cancelled and you will no longer have use of that name.

You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will not be responsible for cancelled domain names that you fail to renew in the timeframes indicated in this Agreement. In any case, if you fail to renew your domain name in a timely fashion, additional charges may apply. If you signed up for privacy services, protected registration, or any other similar service, with your domain name registration, these services will automatically be renewed when your domain name registration is up for renewal, and you will incur the applicable additional renewal fee unless you cancel in advance.

If you fail to renew your domain name in the timeframes indicated in this Agreement, you agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may, in its sole discretion, renew your expired domain name on your behalf. If PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates decides to renew your expired domain name on your behalf, you will have a Renewal Grace Period during which you may reimburse PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates for the renewal and keep your domain name. The Renewal Grace Period is currently twelve (12) days but subject to change under the terms of this Agreement. For certain ccTLDs (.am, .at, .be, .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .de, .eu, .fm, .gs, .it, .jp, .ms, .nu, .nz, .co.nz, .net.nz, .org.nz, .tc, .tk, .tw, .com.tw, .org.tw, .idv.tw, .uk, and .vg) there is no Renewal Grace Period after the expiration date of the domain name. If you do not reimburse PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates for the renewal during the Renewal Grace Period your domain name will be placed on Hold and flagged for deletion after which you may have up to a 30-day redemption period to redeem your domain name, provided that your domain name is not subject to an expired domain name auction bid and you pay PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates a Redemption fee. The Redemption fee is currently $80.00 USD and is subject to change under the terms of this Agreement. If you do not redeem your domain name prior to the end of the 30-day redemption period PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may, in its sole discretion, delete your domain name or transfer it to another registrant on your behalf. During the redemption period your domain name may be parked.

If your domain name is deleted, the Registry also provides a 30-day Redemption Grace Period during which you may pay PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates a redemption fee and redeem your domain name. The redemption fee is currently $80.00 USD and is subject to change under the terms of this Agreement. If you do not redeem your domain name prior to the end of the Registry's Redemption Grace Period the Registry will release your name and it will become available for registration on a first-come-first-served basis.

Renewal Grace Periods and Redemption Grace Periods vary for different ccTLDs. Please refer to the specific terms for the applicable TLD. In the event there is a conflict between the provisions of this paragraph and the ccTLD terms, the ccTLD terms shall control.

Our registration expiration notification policy and associated fees are described here.

(C) FREE PRODUCT TERMS

In the event you are provided with free products with the registration of a domain name, you acknowledge and agree that such free products will only be available with a valid purchase and may be terminated in the event the domain name is deleted or cancelled. For free domain names, you acknowledge and agree that you may not change the account associated with such free domain for the first five (5) days after registration. In the event a free domain name is offered with the registration of another domain and if the paid domain name registered fails, then we may, in its sole discretion, either delete the registration of the free domain or refund the difference between the amount paid and the value of the free domain. Failed registrations associated with promotional offers may result in the deletion of the free or discounted item or an adjustment between the registered domain price and the value of the discounted item, in our sole discretion.

4. TERM OF AGREEMENT; TRANSFERS; DOMAIN TASTING

The term of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect as long as you have any domain name registered through PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates.

You agree that you will not transfer any domain name registered through PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates to another domain name registrar during the first sixty (60) days after its initial registration date. You agree that you may not transfer any domain name for ten (10) days after a Change of Account.

You further agree that you will not engage in "domain tasting" by using the five (5) day grace period in which a registrant may choose to cancel a domain name and get a full refund of the registration fee as a vehicle to test the marketability or viability of a domain name. If PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates determines (which determination shall be made by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates in its sole and absolute discretion) that you have been engaging in "domain tasting", then PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates reserves the right to (a) charge you a small fee (which fee shall be deducted from any refund issued) or (b) refuse your cancellation/refund request altogether. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will not charge you a fee if PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates cancels your domain name during the five (5) day grace period due to fraud or other activity outside of your control. The five (5) day grace period does not apply to Premium Domains, which are non-refundable.

You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates shall not be bound by (i) any representations made by third parties who you may use to purchase services from PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, or (ii) any statements of a general nature, which may be posted on PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ website or contained in PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ promotional materials.

5. UP TO DATE INFORMATION; USE OF INFORMATION AND EXPIRATION

You agree to notify PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates within five (5) business days when any of the information you provided as part of the application and/or registration process changes. It is your responsibility to keep this information in a current and accurate status. Failure by you, for whatever reason, to provide PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates with accurate and reliable information on an initial and continual basis, shall be considered to be a material breach of this Agreement and a basis for suspension and/or cancellation of the domain name. Failure by you, for whatever reason, to respond within five (5) business days to any inquiries made by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates to determine the validity of information provided by you, shall also be considered to be a material breach of this Agreement and a basis for suspension and/or cancellation of the domain name. You agree to retain a copy for your record of the receipt for purchase of your domain name.

You agree that for each domain name registered by you, the following contact data is required: postal address, email address, telephone number, and if available, a facsimile number for the Registered Name Holder and, if different from the Registered Name Holder, the same contact information for, a technical contact, an administrative contact and a billing contact.

You acknowledge and agree that domain name registration requires that this contact information, in whole or in part, be shared with the registry operator, for their use, copying, distribution, publication, modification and other processing for (among other uses in accordance with our Privacy Policy) the purpose of administration of the domain name registration, which may require such information be transferred back and forth across international borders, to and from the U.S. to the EU, for example. As required by ICANN, this information must also be made publicly available by means of Whois, and that the registry operator may also be required to make this information publicly available by Whois. Both PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates and the registry operator may be required to archive this information with a third-party escrow service. You hereby consent and give permission for all such requirements and disclosures. Further, you represent and warrant that, if you are providing information about a third party, you have notified the third party of the disclosure and the purpose for the disclosure and you have obtained the third party's consent to such disclosure. Registrar will not process data in a way that is incompatible with this Agreement. Registrar will take reasonable precautions to protect data from loss or misuse.

You agree that for each domain name registered by you the following information will be made publicly available in the Whois directory as determined by ICANN Policy and may be sold in bulk as set forth in the ICANN agreement:

The domain name;
Your name and postal address;
The name, email address, postal address, voice and fax numbers for technical and administrative contacts;
The Internet protocol numbers for the primary and secondary name servers;
The corresponding names of the name servers; and
The original date of registration and expiration date.
Name of primary name server and secondary name server.
Identity of the registrar.

You agree that, to the extent permitted by ICANN, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may make use of the publicly available information you provided during the registration process. If you engage in the reselling of domain names you agree to provide any individuals whose personal information you've obtained, information about the possible uses of their personal information pursuant to ICANN policy. You also agree to obtain consent, and evidence of consent, from those individuals for such use of the personal information they provide.

You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates has the right to make public and share with third parties certain information in connection with the sale or purchase of domain names on the website, including but not limited to (a) the name of the domain name sold or purchased, (b) the sale or purchase price of the domain name sold or purchased, and (c) information relating to the timing of the sale or purchase.

In order for us to comply with any current or future rules and policies for domain name systems including any rules or policies established by the CIRA or any provincial or federal government or by other organization having control or authority to establish rules or policies, you hereby grant to us the right to disclose to third parties through an interactive publicly accessible registration database the following information that you are required to provide when applying for a domain name:

The domain or sub-domain name(s) registered by you;
Your organization name, type and postal address;
The name(s), position(s), postal address(es), e-mail address(es), voice telephone number(s) and where available the fax number(s) of the technical and administrative contacts for your domain or sub-domain name(s);
The full hostnames and Internet protocol (IP) addresses of at least two (2) name server hosts (one primary and at least one secondary) for your domain or sub-domain name. Up to six (6) name servers may be specified. If a host has more than one (1) IP address, use a comma-separated list;
The corresponding names of those name servers;
The original creation date of the registration; and
The expiration date of the registration.

We may be required to make this information available in bulk form to third parties. We may also transfer or assign this information to CIRA or such other third party as we may decide, in our sole discretion.

6. DISPUTE RESOLUTION POLICY

You agree to be bound by our current Dispute Resolution Policy. This policy is incorporated herein and made a part of this Agreement. You can view the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy online. You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may from time to time modify its Dispute Resolution Policy. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates will post any changes to its Dispute Resolution Policy at least thirty (30) days before they become effective. You agree that by maintaining your domain name registrations with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates after the updated policy becomes effective that you agree to the Dispute Resolution policy as amended. You agree to review PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ website periodically to determine if changes have been made to the Dispute Resolution Policy. If you cancel or terminate your Services with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates as a result of the modified Dispute Resolution policy, no fees will be refunded to you. You also agree to submit to proceedings commenced under ICANN's Uniform Rapid Suspension System, if applicable.

You agree that if a dispute arises as a result of one (1) or more domain names you have registered using PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, you will indemnify, defend and hold PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates harmless as provided for in this Agreement. You also agree that if PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is notified that a complaint has been filed with a governmental, administrative or judicial body, regarding a domain name registered by you using PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, in its sole discretion, may take whatever action PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates deems necessary regarding further modification, assignment of and/or control of the domain name deemed necessary to comply with the actions or requirements of the governmental, administrative or judicial body until such time as the dispute is settled. In this event you agree to hold PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates harmless for any action taken by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates.

You agree to submit, without prejudice to other potentially applicable jurisdictions, to the jurisdiction of the courts (1) of your domicile, (2) where registrar is located or (3) where the registry operator is located (e.g., China for .CN, Columbia for .CO, UK for .EU, etc.).

In the case of .ca domain names, you agree that, if your use of the service or the registration of a .ca domain name is challenged by a third party, you will be subject to the provisions specified by CIRA in their dispute resolution policy, in effect at the time of the dispute.

7. TRANSFER OF DOMAIN NAMES; RESALE PRACTICES

If you transfer any domain name, you agree to provide the information required by, and to abide by, the procedures and conditions set forth in our Domain Name Transfer Agreement and Change of Registrant Agreement. You may view the latest versions of our Domain Name Transfer Agreement and Change of Registrant Agreementonline. In order to further protect your domain name, any domain name registered with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates or transferred to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates shall be placed on lock status, unless an opted-out has occurred as defined in our Change of Registrant Agreement or Domain Name Proxy Agreement. The domain name must be placed on unlock status in order to initiate a transfer of the domain name away from PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates to a new Registrar. You may log into your account with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates at any time after your domain name has been successfully transferred to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, and change the status to unlock.

In the event you are purchasing a domain name on behalf of a third party, you agree to inform any customer of yours, who may be acquiring a domain name through you using PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ registration services, that they are in fact registering their domain name through PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates and that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is an accredited registrar with ICANN. You agree not to represent that you are an ICANN-accredited registrar or that you are in any way providing superior access to the ICANN Domain Name Registry. You also agree not to use the ICANN trademark logo in any of your promotional materials including your website.

You agree to obtain each of your customers' acceptances to the then current version of this Agreement, and to retain evidence of their acceptance for a period of not less than three (3) years. Should you require that your customers accept additional terms and conditions that are not required by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, you agree that such additional terms and conditions shall not conflict with this Agreement and the policies and procedures adopted by ICANN.

You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is not lending you access to its registrar connections or its registry access, nor will you be deemed to be a registrar in your own right. Furthermore, you agree you will not attempt to gain access to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ registrar connections or registry access. You agree to provide complete, accurate and current data for each registrant to be added to a registry in accordance with ICANN requirements for inclusion in the Whois database.

You agree to provide your customers with adequate customer support, and to maintain contact with them with regard to providing a medium for them to communicate changes in the information they provided as part of the domain name registration process. Upon receiving corrected or updated information you will, within five (5) business days, provide such information to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates so PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may update its registration records. You will retain copies of all communications between you and your customers and will upon request provide PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates copies of same.

8. YOUR OBLIGATIONS; SUSPENSION OF SERVICES; BREACH OF AGREEMENT

You represent and warrant to the best of your knowledge that, neither the registration of the domain nor the manner it is directly or indirectly used, infringes the legal rights of any third party. You will comply with all applicable laws, including, but not limited to those relating to privacy, data collection, consumer protection, fair lending, debt collection, organic farming, and disclosure of data and financial disclosures. If you collect and maintain sensitive health and financial data, you must implement reasonable and appropriate security measures commensurate with the offering of those services, as defined by applicable law. You represent that you possess any necessary authorization, charter, license, and/or other related credential for participation in the sector associated with the associated registry tld string. You will report any material changes to the validity of your authorization, charter, license, and/or other related credential. You will indemnify and hold harmless the registrar and registry operator, and their directors, officers, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees and expenses) arising out of or related to the domain name registration. This obligation shall survive expiration or termination of this Agreement or the domain name registration.

You agree that, in addition to other events set forth in this Agreement:

Your ability to use any of the services provided by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates is subject to cancellation or suspension in the event there is an unresolved breach of this Agreement and/or suspension or cancellation is required by any policy now in effect or adopted later by ICANN;
Your registration of any domain names shall be subject to suspension, cancellation or transfer pursuant to any ICANN adopted specification or policy, or pursuant to any PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates procedure not inconsistent with an ICANN adopted specification or policy (a) to correct mistakes by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates or the registry operator in registering any domain name; or (b) for the resolution of disputes concerning any domain name.

You acknowledge and agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates and registry reserve the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold or similar status, as either deems necessary, in the unlimited and sole discretion of either PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates or the registry: (i) to comply with specifications adopted by any industry group generally recognized as authoritative with respect to the Internet (e.g., RFCs), (ii) to correct mistakes made by registry or any registrar in connection with a domain name registration, (iii) for the non-payment of fees to registry, (iv) to protect the integrity and stability of the registry, (v) to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, or any dispute resolution process, (vi) to comply with any applicable ICANN rules or regulations, including without limitation, the registry agreement, (vii) to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of registry operator, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees, (viii) per the terms of this Agreement, (ix) following an occurrence of any of the prohibited activities described in Section 8 below, or (x) during the resolution of a dispute.

You agree that your failure to comply completely with the terms and conditions of this Agreement and any PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates rule or policy may be considered by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates to be a material breach of this Agreement and PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may provide you with notice of such breach either in writing or electronically (i.e. email). In the event you do not provide PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates with material evidence that you have not breached your obligations to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates within ten (10) business days, PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may terminate its relationship with you and take any remedial action available to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates under the applicable laws. Such remedial action may be implemented without notice to you and may include, but is not limited to, cancelling the registration of any of your domain names and discontinuing any services provided by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates to you. No fees will be refunded to you should your Services be cancelled or terminated because of a breach.

PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ failure to act upon or notify you of any event, which may constitute a breach, shall not relieve you from or excuse you of the fact that you have committed a breach.

9. RESTRICTION OF SERVICES; RIGHT OF REFUSAL

You agree not to use the services provided by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, or to allow or enable others, to use the services provided by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates for the purposes of:

The transmission of unsolicited email (Spam); and
Repetitive, high volume inquires into any of the services provided by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates (i.e. domain name availability, etc.).

You acknowledge and agree that you are prohibited from distributing malware, abusively operating botnets, phishing, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement, fraudulent or deceptive practices, counterfeiting or otherwise engaging in activity contrary to applicable law, and you acknowledge and agree that the consequences for such activities include suspension of the domain name.

If you are hosting your domain name system (“DNS”) on PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ servers, or are using our systems to forward a domain name, URL, or otherwise to a system or site hosted elsewhere, or if you have your domain name registered with PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, you are responsible for ensuring there is no excessive overloading on PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ servers. You may not use PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates’ servers and your domain name as a source, intermediary, reply to address, or destination address for mail bombs, Internet packet flooding, packet corruption, or other abusive attack. Server hacking or other perpetration of security breaches is prohibited. You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates reserves the right to deactivate your domain name from its DNS if PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates deems it is the recipient of activities caused by your site that threaten the stability of its network.

You agree that PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates, in its sole discretion and without liability to you, may refuse to accept the registration of any domain name. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates also may in its sole discretion and without liability to you delete the registration of any domain name during the first thirty (30) days after registration has taken place. PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates may also cancel the registration of a domain name, after thirty (30) days, if that name is being used, as determined by PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to:

Activities prohibited by the laws of the United States and/or foreign territories in which you conduct business;
Activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others, such as hate crimes, terrorism and child pornography; and
Activities designed to harm or use unethically minors in any way.

In the event PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates refuses a registration or deletes an existing registration during the first thirty (30) days after registration, you will receive a refund of any fees paid to PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates in connection with the registration either being cancelled or refused. In the event PIGO Multimedia, Inc. and/or its Affilliates deletes the registration of a domain name being used in association with spam or morally objectionable activities, no refund will be issued.

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