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Why a clone comes back after a takedown
You take down a clone, and the same site appears on a new domain. The domain was never the real target. We take down the network behind it and fill the search results for your name with your own content.
Article · Takedown · October 17, 2026 · 4 min read
By Vlad Pivnev, Founder & CEO
The domain is disposable
Sites that take your customers do not live on one address. In August 2026, we watched where one button on a site with a brand's name sent customers. Within 24 hours, it led to three different domains. All three belonged to one operator.
One button, 24 hours
Visit 1 landing-1.life
Visit 2 landing-2.com
Visit 3 landing-3.life
Operator the same
Another site, 3 domains
Domain 1 landing-4.life
Domain 2 registered 2026-08-20
Domain 3 30 seconds later
Operator the same
On a second site, the button also led to three domains in a row. Two of them were registered on August 20, 2026, half a minute apart. They were bought together, before they were needed. All six domains led to the same operator. If you take down one domain, the next one is already live.
So a report that names one domain is out of date the next day. We record every domain with the date we saw it. The operator stays the same, so we track the operator, not the address.
Take down the network, not the domain
Domains change. The things that link them stay the same. We find these links before we file the first complaint.
Affiliate ID
This is the code in a link that shows which affiliate account gets paid. For one brand, 127 domains with its name led to just two affiliate accounts.
Certificate
Other names in the same SSL certificate show the domains of one owner. Some of them are not in search results at all.
Shared redirect domain
Clicks from different sites pass through the same address on the way. One link-masking service connected six sites in three countries.
Complaints against all of it
We file against every domain in the network at once. If a domain comes back, we take it down again.
A shared IP address is not on this list. Many unrelated sites sit behind one address of a content delivery network. A shared address alone does not prove one owner.
A page removed from search is not a removed site
Google removes the page from search results. The site itself keeps working, and a customer with a direct link still reaches it. So on the same day, we also file with the hosting provider and the registrar.
| What happens | Time |
|---|---|
| Google and Bing remove the page from search results | 3-hour median |
| The hosting provider stops the site, also behind Cloudflare | 24 hours or more |
| The registrar stops the domain, with all its subdomains | up to 2 weeks |
| If the site comes back, we take it down again | each time |
Fill the search results with your own content
A takedown frees a place in search results for your name. So we work from two sides. We take the clone down and publish your content for the same searches. This is search engine reputation management (SERM).
In one case, a clone copied the interface, bonuses and content of a licensed crypto casino. It appeared in search results for the casino's name in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. We filed complaints with Google and Bing. The client's first content went live 48 hours later. These were guest articles, media publications, videos and comments on Reddit and Quora. People who searched for “[clone] scam” found this content. In 32 days, the clone left the search results. It has not come back for 12 months.
Related pages
We take down clones together with the network behind them. Then we keep watching your name and take down what comes back.
Fake websites & clones → · SERM Protection → · All channels and timelines → · Get a free brand audit →
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