Just in case it’s not already known, here are some terms you may encounter on this site:

Badge Engineering: This term describes the practice of building two (or more) products and giving each a different name and brand in an effort to generate more sales under the multiple brands. Example: Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable. In some cases, badge-engineered cars are truly identical except for the emblems and branding. In other cases, minor changes to headlights, bumpers and some body panels may be incorporated. This isn’t necessarily a bad practice, but once noticed, it can lead to customer confusion or even disappointment.

Domain: This is part of the web address that directs your browser to a specific site. Example: toyota.com

HTTP and HTTPS: This stands for Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, which is part of the language of web pages. The S at the end of HTTPS stands for Secured, which means the data being transferred is being encrypted for an extra level of security.

Site Section: A site section is a page on a domain that has its own path in the URL. Example: https://www.ford.com/escape. Site sections like this are relatively easy to build and keep so companies often hold onto them and simply redirect them to more relevant content if appropriate. Because site sections are relatively easy, I tend to be very critical of companies that do not preserve them.

Sub-Domain: These are websites on the domain, but do not have the www prefix. Example: https://accord.honda.com. As these are part of the domain, if a company wanted to resurrect a long-gone subdomain, it would definitely be possible as long as they still own the domain. Because sub-domains are relatively easy, I tend to be very critical of companies that do not preserve them.

Top-Level Domain: Sometimes referred to as TLD, it’s the www version of the domain. Example: https://www.wakeupanddrive.com. For this exercise, top-level domains are some of the hardest for companies and advertisers to maintain since they require regular renewal and once lost are difficult to reclaim.