How to check a startup directory before you submit: dead, parked, hijacked and quietly changed

A directory can sit on a list of places to launch and still be dead, parked, or showing casino pages under its old name. In our 2026 link check, 20 of the 375 launch links we checked no longer worked, and 5 more now send you to a different site.

Here are the five signs we look for, each with a real case from that check, and a short check to run before you submit, hand over your email or pay.

01What we found

A site that does not load is easy to spot. A directory taken over by spam usually answers with HTTP 200, the code for a normal page, so a broken-link tool marks it healthy. An audit of 12,680 links in an OSINT tool directory (opens in a new tab) found the same: "A status-code checker gives all of these a clean bill of health."

So our checker looks up the domain, loads the page, follows every redirect, including redirects made by JavaScript after the page loads, and reads the title and text. The report lists every failure with its reason.

02Sign 1: the domain is gone

The name no longer resolves. The DNS lookup fails and your browser cannot find the server. Launched, Indie Hunting, Futurehurry, SaaScape and Submit Your Tools all ended this way.

The server answers, but the site is gone. Submit Your App now shows a hosting error: "This page doesn't exist" and "404 DEPLOYMENT_NOT_FOUND". OpenAI's Converge page, an accelerator program we had listed, returns a 404. A 404 on an inner page can be a moved link; a 404 or a hosting error on the home page means there is no site.

The certificate is broken. Your browser shows a full-page warning instead of the site. All Startups' certificate had expired (ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID); The Startup Pitch's was issued for a different host name (ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID). Both were on our research list only. Slant, which we listed with the communities, failed a check by hand on 30 September 2026 with an HTTP 526 error: Cloudflare, which sits in front of the site, could not validate the certificate on the server behind it. We removed it. Do not click through a warning like this to type in your email or pay: it means your browser cannot confirm who is on the other end.

03Sign 2: it's parked or for sale

A parked domain shows a page from a registrar or a domain marketplace: a price and a buy button, or a page of search-style ad links.

The Mint, an accelerator on our list until this check, now forwards to a marketplace page titled "TheMint.io — Domain For Sale | Atom", with a box headed "Purchase this domain". A plain request for that page got a 403 "forbidden" answer; a real browser got the sale page. That is why we load pages in a browser too.

Primeindies forwards to ww547.primeindies.com, a list of ad links headed "prime indies". In some of our checks the forward happened in JavaScript after the page loaded, so a tool that reads only the first answer sees a normal page. And the parking network changes where it sends people: on 29 September 2026, one of our browser visits was forwarded on to an adult site.

Look for an address bar that ends on a domain marketplace, a subdomain made of "ww" and a number, the words "buy this domain", or an almost empty page with "related searches".

04Sign 3: it's been taken over by spam

This one looks fine to a machine and wrong to a person.

Fiddy. fiddy.co forwards through two other domains to an Indonesian-language gambling page laid out like a shop listing. Its title starts with "MANTRA62".

Hackerspad. hackerspad.net forwards through another domain to a Vietnamese card-game and casino site. The page title now reads "Gemwin Adlogic | Cổng Game Bài Đại Phú Quý | Tải Gemwin".

Startup Tabs, from our research list, has no redirect at all. The title still reads "Startuptabs | Startup Discovery Engine | Breaking into the World of Startups", and the logo is still there. But a row of links under the menu now reads "Casinos Not On Gamstop UK", "Non Gamstop Betting Sites" and "Betrouwbare Online Casino Zonder Cruks". Same domain, normal status code: only reading the page catches it.

Our checker looks for gambling, adult and online-pharmacy terms in the title and text, including the Indonesian and Vietnamese gambling terms these pages use. A place on our list that shows spam is hidden at once.

Google's spam policies have a name for the pattern, expired domain abuse (opens in a new tab). It "is where an expired domain name is purchased and repurposed primarily to manipulate search rankings by hosting content that provides little to no value to users." One of Google's own examples is "Casino-related content on a former elementary school site." We do not know who owns any of these domains now, and we do not guess.

05Sign 4: it now sends you somewhere else

A redirect is not always bad news: products rename themselves. Getmakerlog now forwards to ambitiousfounder.com, a personal blog titled "Ambitious Founder". No Code Devs forwards to makerthrive.com, titled "MakerThrive: Elevate Your Tool's Reach & Impact | MakerThrive". We hid both until we decide whether either is the same product under a new name.

Our test: a clear rebrand keeps its place. The old address sends you to the new name, and the new site says so.

• 500.co, 500 Startups' domain, now titles itself "500 Global | 500 Global". It stays as 500 Global.
• The old AI2 Incubator address forwards to aihouse.vc, whose page says "AI2 Incubator is now AI House." It stays as AI House.
• colab.co/accelerator forwards to thecompanylab.org, titled "Accelerator - The Company Lab (CO.LAB)". It stays as The Company Lab.

Each rename is in the changelog. If a new site never mentions the old name, treat it as a different site.

06Sign 5: it's live but has changed

SaasGenius passes every status check, and its home page still says "Discover the Right Software with SaaSGenius". But on 29 September 2026 its main menu also had a "Casino Sweepstakes" section, with pages on sweepstakes, social and mobile casinos and casino freebies. It was still there on 30 September 2026.

Two gambling words on a live page ("casino" and "betting") are not enough for our checker to call it spam, but it records them on every page it reads, and that is how SaasGenius came up for review. We hid it while we decide whether it is still a SaaS directory.

So read the whole menu, the footer and the sidebars, not only the headline.

Some sites change by stopping. They still load, but nobody is home. When we re-read part of the list on 30 September 2026, we hid:

• Killer Startups and Netted, which had published nothing since April 2025 and February 2025. Killer Startups' submit page now leads to a newsletter sign-up.
• Crazy About Startups, now a single "we are rebuilding" page with no listings and no way to submit.
• The Alternative.to directory at get.alternative.to, which has no way to submit, add or get in touch, and a "© 2024" footer.

And we hid a few more while we decide: Startup Stash and Startup Resources, whose submission forms now say "This typeform is now closed", and tech^map, which showed no dated activity at all. A form that is closed, or that turns into a newsletter sign-up, is the clearest sign that nobody reads the queue.

07A quick check before you submit

No tools needed, only a browser:

1. Type the address yourself and wait a few seconds. Are you still on the same domain? Some forwards happen after the page loads.
2. Read the title in the browser tab and the menu. Gambling words, a language that has nothing to do with the site, or "domain for sale" mean stop.
3. Scroll the whole page, footer included. Rows of links that have nothing to do with startups, like the casino links on Startup Tabs, are a reason to stop.
4. Open the newest listings and look at their dates. A directory whose newest listing is a year old may not read the queue you are about to join.
5. Open the submit page from the site's own menu. It should load on the same domain, over https, without a warning.
6. Look the place up on our list. Its page shows the date of its last link check; if we removed it, the changelog says when and why.

The same check works for review blogs, newsletters and launch sites: see app review sites, startup blogs and newsletters and Product Hunt alternatives.

08What we do about it

• A place is hidden after 3 failed checks in a row, from now on at least 48 hours apart, so a short outage removes nothing. (In the first check, on 29 September 2026, they were made on the same day.)
• A link that shows spam is hidden at once. A link that now goes to another site is hidden until we have looked at it.
• A place that has stopped publishing, or whose submit form is closed, is hidden by hand, with the reason.
• Every removal, rename and new address is in the changelog, with removed domains as text, never as links.
• Every place's page shows the date of its last check and has a "report a problem" form. See how we check.

09Questions

01

How can I tell if a startup directory is still active?

Open it and look past the home page: the address should stay on the same domain, the title and menu should be about startups, the newest listings should be recent, and the submit page should load over https without a warning. On our list, each place shows the date of its last link check.

02

Why do old directories turn into casino sites?

Google's spam policies call it expired domain abuse: an expired domain is bought and reused mainly to manipulate search rankings, with content of little or no value to users. One of Google's own examples is casino content on a former elementary school site. We do not know who owns any particular domain, and we do not guess.

03

Is it bad for my site to be listed on a directory that got hijacked?

We cannot predict what Google does with any one link. Google's help page on disavowing links says that in most cases it can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most sites will not need the disavow tool. It says to disavow only if you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links and they have caused, or likely will cause, a manual action.

04

What should I do if a directory I'm listed on is now spam?

Stop sending people there: take it off your site, your press page and any badge you added that links to it. If you can still reach your listing, ask for it to be removed. If the place is on our list, use the report a problem form on its page or write to hi@venturelist.app.