Parked domains are domains that have been registered but are not actively used to host a website or provide any other services. Typically, parked domains display a placeholder page, which might include keyword advertising, a message indicating the domain is for sale, or some other basic content.

The domain remarketing business is significant with SEDO, one of the major players reportedlygenerating over $150M in revenues in 2023 managing 4M domains.

Indeed most parked domains are managed by hosting and domain management companies who hope to sell parked domains at a premium.  Some also earn income from placing adverts on these domains.  From email marketing point of view, it does not take too much imagination to think that may also earn money from less public revenues such as lending domains to spam trap networks.  Certainly,we see connections when researching our data.

Datazag has identified approximately 40M parked domains in our global database. This represents roughly 15% of all active domains so it is a big segment to consider. Over 16M of these domains have valid MX records and others may be mailable via their A record. In addition, 2M of these domains have an SPF block requesting no incoming mail.

So, should you be sending emails to these domains?

The chances of getting real clicks or generating revenue is almost zero.  Consent to mail to these domains is questionable as they are parked and it is unlikely there are real users of the domain.  Even if the domain was once active, you will not be displaying good practice by continuing to mail to thatdomain. The possibility that it might be a spam trap should also be flashing red lights to you.

My advice would be to remove them from your lists.

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