Google is testing a new Safety Tip in Chrome Canary that warns you when a site looks suspicious. The experiment is meant to catch pages whose addresses imitate other sites, but in its early form it can also show the warning on legitimate sites, which is one reason it is still limited to test builds.
What is Chrome’s Safety Tip?
Google’s enterprise documentation describes it as a new “safety tip” for sites with URLs that look very similar to those of other sites, a warning about pages that might be spoofing another site. It is part of Chrome’s broader work on lookalike domain warnings. In its Q3 2019 security update, the Chromium team said it improved the lookalike domain warning with clearer wording and new heuristics for detecting spoofing attacks, and it kept iterating on that warning through Q4 2019.
Why legitimate sites get flagged
Lookalike detection compares the address you are visiting with sites you use and with well-known sites. A real site whose name happens to resemble a popular one, or a company that owns several similar domains, can trigger it. Google’s help page lists the typical triggers: a site that looks similar to a safe site you often visit, or a URL that is slightly altered from a known safe site or one in your history.
What to do when Chrome shows the warning
- Read the address in the warning carefully and compare it with the site you meant to visit.
- If the address is wrong, use the suggested site or close the tab.
- If you are sure the site is genuine, choose Yes, continue to proceed.
Never enter passwords or payment details on a page you are unsure about. The same habits that help you spot scam messages apply to lookalike web addresses.
If you run a site that is flagged
Google says site owners whose pages get a “Did you mean”, “Is this the right site?” or “Fake site ahead” warning should fix any issue and then request a review using Google’s instructions for lookalike warnings.
Today
The experiment grew into a standard feature. Chromium’s security team began a gradual rollout of a low-confidence lookalike warning in Chrome 86 and fully launched a new lookalike domain warning in Q4 2020. In Q3 2026 Google also began rolling out suspicious site warnings for Enhanced Protection users. Chrome now also warns about phishing, malware, unwanted software, abusive extensions and intrusive ads, which works best alongside the basic steps to protect your computer from viruses.
