What Is A Parked Domain?

Date First Published: 13th January 2022

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 6/10

A parked domain is a registered, but unused domain name that doesn't display any content. It only displays ads or an 'under construction' page in order to gain advertising revenue. Most parked domains show related or sponsored links. Similar to how parking in the everyday world means stopping a car and leaving it at a destination, it is called a 'parked' domain because the domain has been stopped and is not in active use.

Why Are Domain Names Parked?

Parked domains are not connected to any web hosting services. Domain names are often parked for future use, to prevent domain squatting against a valuable domain that reflects a brand, or to keep a domain name before it expires.

Domain names often show parking pages before they are ready to be launched or when the registrant does not renew their domain name. They are not to be confused with error messages that are returned by browsers, saying that says the server cannot be found or that the DNS address could not be found, which normally happens when entering a URL to a website that does not exist. A parked domain successfully loads in a web browser and usually only shows ads. Most domain registrars allow registrant's domain names to be parked for free. The image above shows what a parked domain looks like.