How to know when someone copies your website
How to detect a cloned website with copy alerts, also called canary tokens: what they are, how to set one up, and what they miss.
The main way to find copies of your website is a daily scan of newly registered domains with names like yours. A copy alert is an extra check: a small tripwire you place on your own website. If a copy of your website loads it, you see a hit in your OpenBait console. Copy alert is OpenBait's plain name for a canary token. OpenBait is a fake website takedown service, and copy alerts are included on every plan.
How do I set up a copy alert?
- In the console, go to Monitoring > Canary and create a Tracking beacon.
- Replace the sample domains in the code it gives you with your own, then add the code to your website. If you skip that, visits to your real website show up as hits.
- If a copy loads it, the hit appears on the Canary page, with the copy's URL when we can see it.
We don't email these hits. On Free, open the Canary page to see them. On Pro and up, you can also send them to Slack, Teams or another webhook. See Alerts.
Will it detect every cloned website?
No. A copy alert is an extra check, and many copies never load it.
How do I find the copies that never load it?
The daily scan looks for those. AI checks newly registered domains with names like yours. Sign up free, no card needed, and enter your website.
To check a link now, paste it here. It's free.
To see what happens after you confirm a fake, read From report to takedown.
How many copy alerts do I get?
Free includes 5 copy alerts and Pro includes 30. Business and Enterprise are unlimited. From Pro up, you can also filter out your own domains and known scanners in the console. See plans and pricing.