digg.com
Proceed with caution · 0 critical · 1 warnings · 4 notesdigg.com is one of the best-known short .com properties on the open web: four letters, registered 2000-02-20, archived since 1998, and still live today at https://digg.com/tech behind Cloudflare DNS and Vercel hosting, with Google Workspace mail. Open PageRank of 8.67/10 and roughly 14,585 referring domains reflect two decades as a mainstream social-news brand. The Wayback record is enormous — over 6.4 million captures across 272 months, peaking at ~2.98M in 2021. This is an operating, trademarked brand asset rather than a dormant name, so any purchase is effectively a brand/business acquisition. The registration currently sits at NameCheap with client transfer prohibited and an expiry of 2028-12-29. Minor hygiene issue: mail is configured without SPF.
Realistic use: acquisition of an operating media brand · high-authority editorial/news property · brand plus trademark purchase only · not suitable as a generic repurposed shell
Findings
- WarningSite changed purpose 2 times1998: Digg Records splash entry page → 2006–2011: Digg social news technology section → 2014–2026: Digg curated internet news
- NoteEarlier history belongs to a previous registrationArchive captures start 1998-11-11, the current registration dates from 2000-02-20. Anything before that was a different owner.
- Note5 of 7 sibling TLDs are takenTaken: digg.net, digg.org, digg.ai, digg.app, digg.dev. Expect confusion with other brands on the same name.
- NoteMail is configured without SPFAnyone can spoof this domain in email. Fix on takeover.
- Note1 pages in the latest Common CrawlCrawl CC-MAIN-2026-34. A rough size of the site as the open web sees it.
- GoodDomain age 26.5 yearsRegistered 2000-02-20.
- GoodArchived since 1998-11-116438513 captures across 272 months and 27 years.
- GoodOpen PageRank 8.67/10global position #1,530, 14,585 referring domains (authority-weighted). A real link footprint in the Common Crawl host graph; verify anchors and sources in a backlink tool before paying for "authority".
- GoodStrong name: digg.com (100/100)4 characters: very short, memorable; pronounceable (passes the radio test); .com is a premium TLD.
Top risks
- "Digg" is a live, heavily used trademark; buying the domain without the mark invites legal conflict.
- Content and business have changed hands and direction repeatedly (2006 social news → 2014 curation → 2024+ topic-monitored feeds); expect editorial and traffic volatility.
- Backlink authority is brand-driven — repurposing the domain for an unrelated business likely wastes most of that equity.
- Mail is configured with no SPF record, so the domain can be spoofed until fixed.
- Five of seven sibling TLDs (.net, .org, .ai, .app, .dev) are already taken, so brand confusion is likely.
- Only 1 page appears in the latest Common Crawl (CC-MAIN-2026-34), which is far smaller than the archive volume implies — verify what is actually indexed.
Ask the seller
- Does the sale include the Digg trademark, logo, user accounts, and social handles, or the domain only?
- Who currently operates the live site on Vercel, and does that operation transfer with the sale?
- Can you provide GA/Search Console exports covering the last 24 months, given the 2021 and 2024 capture spikes?
- Are there outstanding licensing, contributor, newsletter, or merch-store obligations attached to the brand?
- Why is the registration held at NameCheap under privacy with no organisation listed, and can you prove control of the registrant email?
- Has the domain ever carried manual actions, and what is the current status of the Google Workspace mail and its SPF/DKIM/DMARC records?
Name quality
| Score | 100/100 |
|---|---|
| Name | digg.com · 4 characters |
| Notes | 4 characters: very short, memorable; pronounceable (passes the radio test); .com is a premium TLD |
Registration
| Registrar | NameCheap, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Created | 2000-02-20 |
| Updated | 2026-05-15 |
| Expires | 2028-12-29 |
| Status | client transfer prohibited |
| Nameservers | katja.ns.cloudflare.com, zac.ns.cloudflare.com |
| DNSSEC | not signed |
| Source | RDAP |
Timeline
What the site looked like
Archive history
The earliest capture, 1998-11-11, shows an unrelated "Welcome to Digg Records" splash page — that predates the current registration created 2000-02-20 and belonged to a different owner. Captures are sparse through 2001 and absent 2002–2003. From 2004–2005 archiving explodes (521 captures in 2005) as Digg launches as a social news site; the 2006-08-15 snapshot shows "digg / Technology" with Swarm and Stack visualizations, and the 2009 version lists Apple, Linux/Unix, Security and other tech verticals. The 2011-08-15 capture advertises a beta invite for "the next Digg innovation" — the contentious v4 era. From 2014-02-16 the site runs under the current positioning, "Digg — What the Internet is talking about right now," adding Video, Editions, Store and Picks sections through 2016–2021, plus merch and newsletter funnels. By 2024 titles shift to "News and Trending Stories Around the Internet | Digg," and the 2026-09-03 capture shows "Technology News · Digg" with stories "discovered through Topic monitoring." Continuous English-language editorial use, no gaps, no risky flags, clean on SURBL.
Identity over time
- 2006-08 → 2011-08 community Digg social news technology section [en]
- 2014-02 → 2026-09 blog media Digg curated internet news [en]
Sampled snapshots
| Date | HTTP | Lang | Title / description | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-11-11 | 200 | business en | (no title) Minimal splash page for a music label site. | |
| 2006-08-15 | 200 | community en | digg / Technology Early Digg user-voted technology news aggregator. | |
| 2009-02-15 | 200 | community en | Digg - All News, Videos, & Images Community-driven news, video and image sharing site. | |
| 2011-08-15 | 200 | community en | Digg - All Topics - The Latest News Headlines, Videos and Images Social news platform with topic sections and user voting. | |
| 2014-02-16 | 200 | blog media en | Digg - What the Internet is talking about right now Editorially curated news and viral content homepage. | |
| 2016-09-15 | 200 | blog media en | Digg - What the Internet is talking about right now Curated articles, videos and original content. | |
| 2019-03-16 | 200 | blog media en | Digg - What the Internet is talking about right now Aggregated trending stories with original features. | |
| 2021-09-16 | 200 | blog media en | Digg - What the Internet is talking about right now News aggregation site with accounts and merch store. | |
| 2024-03-16 | 200 | blog media en | News and Trending Stories Around the Internet | Digg News aggregation with newsletter and product review sections. | |
| 2026-09-03 | 200 | blog media en | Technology News · Digg Automated topic-monitored technology story listings. |
Current state
| Reachable | yes (HTTP 200) |
|---|---|
| Final URL | https://digg.com/tech |
| Title | Tech News · Digg |
| Description | The latest technology stories discovered by Digg. |
| Language | en |
| Server | Vercel |
| TLS certificate | valid, Let's Encrypt, until Nov 12 09:00:24 2026 GMT |
DNS, hosting and email
| A / AAAA | 216.150.16.193, 216.150.1.193 |
|---|---|
| Hosting network | VERCEL-08 |
| MX | aspmx.l.google.com, alt2.aspmx.l.google.com, alt1.aspmx.l.google.com, aspmx3.googlemail.com, aspmx2.googlemail.com |
| Mail provider | Google Workspace |
| SPF | none |
| DMARC | v=DMARC1; p=none; |
| Verification records | google-site-verification |
Reputation
| Spamhaus DBL | unavailable |
|---|---|
| SURBL | clean |
| URIBL | unavailable |
| OpenPhish (live feed) | clean |
| PhishTank | clean |
| Google Safe Browsing | unavailable |
Open-web presence
Site sections seen by Common Crawl: / (1)
| Open PageRank | 8.67/10 · global position #1,530 · 14,585 referring domains (Common Crawl host graph) |
|---|
| Common Crawl | 1 pages with HTTP 200 in CC-MAIN-2026-34 |
|---|
Same name on other TLDs
| Domain | Status | Since | Registrar |
|---|---|---|---|
| digg.net | taken | 2007-12-23 | eName Technology Co., Ltd. |
| digg.org | taken | 2025-05-20 | Spaceship, Inc. |
| digg.io | available | — | |
| digg.co | available | — | |
| digg.ai | taken | 2021-10-20 | GoDaddy.com, LLC |
| digg.app | taken | 2018-05-08 | Namecheap Inc. |
| digg.dev | taken | 2019-02-25 | Namecheap Inc. |
Certificate transparency
crt.sh unavailable.
Manual checks we recommend
- Google:
site:digg.com(indexed pages) and"digg.com"(mentions). - Ahrefs / Semrush / Majestic free checkers for referring domains and anchor texts; look for foreign-language or adult anchors.
- Trademark databases: USPTO TESS, EUIPO eSearch, WIPO Global Brand Database for the name.
- Ask the seller for Google Search Console access before paying.