Google Strikes at .co.cc Subdomains, Blocks Them

In order to cut down on malware, Google has gone ahead and blocked some 11 million .co.cc subdomain sites. The .co.cc doesn’t belong to any country, but is a domain owned by a Korean web site - www.co.cc. The service is fully legitimate and has nothing to do with spam, but it offers free subdomain names and only charges for bulk orders.

Unfortunately, this has attracted a ton of unwanted attention. It’s been so popular that a big chunk of spam originates from this domain. While these sites haven’t been taken down, which means that you’ll still be able to access them, they won’t show up in search results.

No more .co.cc results on Google

Another interesting thing is keep in mind that Google’s Adsense program, which is used across the web was also blocked to .co.cc sites. If Google starts banning free domain services, those wanting to start free blogs and sites using free domain providers such as this might have no choice, but to settle with paid services. Considering the expertise that Google has, a more efficient of way of pinpointing and blocking specific subdomains might be the way to go.