This article will walk you through the process of using Domain Guard and also how to add Domain guard using the control center.

 

Login to the EarthLink Hosting Control Center at: https://control.earthlink.net/.

 

Click on Advanced tools under Quick Access.

 

Click on Utilities.

 

 

Introduction of Domain Guard:

 

Domain Guard lets you know each time a new domain name similar to yours is registered, helping you protect your trademarks, copyrights and brand. Domain guard sends notifications directly to your email to notify you when someone tries to register a similar domain. Upon receiving the notification, you can buy the domain yourself or observe imitators who could potentially gain your business by having a similar domain.

 

Note: Domain Guard only supports only .com and .net

 

1) Adding Domain Guard to your Portal: 

Domains:

2. Existing: If you have already registered your domain, choose Domain Guard and follow the purchase flow.
   
3. New: If you have not registered a domain yet, you will need to follow the domain purchase flow during which point you will be given the opportunity to add Domain Guard to your final purchase.
   

2) Using Domain Guard:

Upon opening the app, you will see your domain name in the table, the email recipient of notices, the guard threshold level and notifications of any detected changes to your domain.

Change your domain name:

1. Select the blue cog on the far right of the table:
   
2. Next, select “Edit Domain:
   
   
   

Change Recipient Email:

1. Select the blue cog on the far right of the table.
   
2. Select "Edit Email Address”:
   
3. You will be prompted to enter a new email address:
   
4. After entering the new email address, select "Save".
   

Update or Change the Guard Threshold:

1. Select the blue cog on the far right of the table.
   
2. Next, select "Edit Guard Threshold":
   
3. You will see a list of three options ranging between "Relaxed, Average and Strict":
   
   

3. Email Address: Enter the email address associated with your account.
   
4. Domain Name: If your Domain name changes or you want to guard more than one at a time you can edit the settings to reflect this.
   
5. Guard Threshold (levels): If Domain guard detects a domain similar to yours, it will be rated on a scale of low - high in similarity.
   

How does Guard Threshold work?

When a domain is identical to yours it has a value of 1 if it is entirely different the value is 0.

3. Relaxed: 0-0.6 (indicates slight similarity)
   
4. Average: 0.7-0.8 (indicates moderate similarity)
   
5. Strict: 0.8 + (indicates high similarity – nearly identical)
   

You can set your Guard Threshold accordingly to detect domains at the level of your preference.

3) Notification:

Under "Notices" you will see the number of notifications for each domain you have added to Domain Guard. If you see a zero, there are no new notifications and it will not be clickable. If there are new notifications, you'll see a blue clickable button that reads "New" next to the number of notices in the column.

 

Reviewing Notifications:

3. Select "New". This will take you to the notifications page where you can view detected changes (Note: Unopened notifications will be highlighted blue with a blue dot on the far-right side next to the "Date Sent" column.
   
4. Upon selecting a highlighted notification, you will receive a pop-up that lets you know which domain has been registered, the threshold level assigned to this domain and suggestions for changing your settings.
   
5. To change your settings, go back to the “Domain Guard” main page and follow the steps in Section 2 of this document.
   

4) Adding Domains:

1. In the right corner of the table, you can select the "Add Domain" button and follow the steps to registering a new/existing domain. These steps will be similar to the process above.