The internet has never had more domain names, but a surprising share of them lead nowhere. These unused or broken addresses are often called “ghost domains”. But what exactly are they, and why are there so many?
Simply put, a ghost domain is a registered domain name that doesn’t show a working website or display even a basic placeholder page. So, when someone types the address into a browser, they would just see an error message instead.
Network Solutions examined 4.2 million domains in its portfolio and found that 59.8% returned an error instead of loading a live site, a redirect or even “coming soon” page, at least. The company calls these domains active registrations that are maintained through renewal payments but resolve to nothing.
Network Solutions says, “Owners are often unaware that their domain is “broken”. But error-returning domains are not a neutral issue for businesses. A domain that returns an error signals inactivity or unprofessionalism to customers, and that lost trust rarely recovers. Beyond reputation however, misconfigured or abandoned domains leaves digital identities vulnerable to real security risks such hijacking or impersonation.”
Why Are There So Many Ghost Domains?
Well, buying a domain has become easier than using it well or maintaining…
Global domain registrations reached 386.9 million in Q4 of 2025, according to Verisign data cited in the Network Solutions report. That was the highest total ever recorded and was a 6.2% increase YoY. More businesses, creators, investors and individuals are securing online names, often before they know exactly what they will build.
Many buyers register domains defensively – they secure common misspellings, different extensions such as .net, .org, .ai and .online or names for future projects. The report found that 28.3% of customers owned between 2-5 domains, while another 6.9% owned 6 or more.
Activation is where things frequently start to slow down because Network Solutions found that only 33.21% of domains pointed to a live website or redirect, 4.28% displayed a “coming soon” page and 2.71% were parked. The remaining 59.8% returned an error.
What Risks Do Ghost Domains Create?
Many think ghost domains are just unused online junk but it can really bring security and reputation problems.
Visitors who come across a dead link could assume a business has closed, neglected its online presence or made an error. Network Solutions says that trust lost through a broken domain is difficult to recover.
Also, unmanaged DNS records may create opportunities for subdomain takeovers, phishing campaigns or impersonation. Attackers often look for domains that appear abandoned but are still associated with a recognised brand.
It might be worth turning on auto-renewal, keeping contact information up to date, removing outdated DNS records and using at least a placeholder page or redirect if a full website is not ready.
Why 2026 Could See Even More Ghost Domains?
There are two things happening at the same time here: number one, domain registration continues to grow and two, new top-level domains are becoming more popular. Network Solutions found that registrations for .ai increased by 41.7% year on year, .online by 36.5% and .co by 31.3%.
Those added extensions give organisations more ways to protect their brands and experiment with new names while it also creates more addresses that need ongoing management.
Network Solutions expects portfolio ownership to become more common as businesses secure multiple variations of their names for brand protection and future expansion. The company predicts that inactive domains will start to be treated as liabilities and not just these harmless unused assets.
In sum, the report is saying that the internet is accumulating domains faster than people are turning them into functioning websites and that is what creates ghost domains. It also explains why there are so many of them today.
