How To Tell Who Owns A Domain Using Whois
JamieRead more December 1, 2020
Domain names are supposed to be unique, and some are now worth quite a lot of money. If you are searching for a domain name and your preferred choices are taken, you can find out who owns them and see if they are interested in selling their domains.
WHOIS is a great source to get what you need. Find the owners contact information, make a connection, and see if they are open to offers. So, what is WHOIS, and how do you identify the owner of the respective domain name? This article answers those questions and more.
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Discover More Information With Another Tool
In addition to whois.net there is another resource tool that can provide you with further information about domains and website. Its called DomainTools. On their WhoIs lookup search tool youll be able to find other information such as the type of server its on. From a competition point of view, youll also have access to some SEO information. Knowing how many links a site has and an SEO score can give you a competitive advantage.
Information about SEO and how many images are stored on the site can give you a foot up on the competitive ladder. Also, you can use the tool to run a check on your website.
If the information about your domain name isnt correct, you may miss out on receiving notifications regarding it. For example, some domain owners receive purchase offers, partnership requests and the like.
If youre a private person and you dont want to share your personal information with the world, then you can protect your identity by using privacy controls. By searching for your domain name, you can determine whether these privacy controls are being productive.
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Consider A New Domain Name
Theres a decent chance that even if you take all of these steps, the person that owns that domain now either wont want to sell, or will only accept a higher price than you can pay.
In that case, youre far from the first person to have to come up with an alternative to the first name you set your heart on. Consider different domain name extensionsif the .com is taken, the .net or .co may still be available. And brainstorm new domain name ideas. You may just come up with something you like even more than your original idea.
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One: Visit The Website
In cases where the owner bought the domain as an investment, theyll make it easy for you to contact them. So start by pulling up the website to see what shows up.
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They may say outright that the domain is for sale, and include contact information or a form you can fill out. Or in some cases where the domain is in active use, youll be able to find contact information on the websites Contact or About page.
If youre lucky enough that this step does the trick and you find the domain owner, you can skip the next two steps.
Can I Look Up Org Info Biz Us Or Tel Domains
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Hosting Checker: The Server Details
The first part of the hosting checker report tells you who hosts this site or what is your hosting company. The second tab answers the question Where is this site hosted?. There you will find its IP address, sites webserver location , and name of the organization managing it.
You might wonder why the server location is in the host lookup tool report. The proximity of the webserver is essential as it influences the loading speed. The closer the webserver is to the target audience the faster the data will transfer. Some web host providers even charge extra for choosing a specific webserver location. To check where a specific IP address is, try our Free IP Checker.
If you want to save the content of any tab of our host checker, you can do it in one click. Copy it to a clipboard to paste elsewhere, download it as a pdf-file, or share it on social media.
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How To Find The Owner Of A Website
If you want to know how to find the owner of a domain, start with the website. The website itself can be a useful source of information.
If the domain has been registered, but the website is not live yet, skip to step two and look at the domain registration history.
However, if there is a website, here are some places to look to find a website owner:
- Contact us page
- Website footer
- Privacy policy
Depending on the website owner, they may make their contact information accessible. Professional resume websites often have contact information, and so do sales websites.
However, if the owner of the website doesnt list any contact information on the contact us or about page, there are a couple of other places you can look.
First, scroll down to the website footer. This is where you can find out who owns the copyright, and sometimes you can find out which agency created the website. Either of these can point you in the direction of the website owner.
Finally, you can check the privacy policy page. If a website collects any user information, its legally required to have a privacy policy.
How does the privacy policy page help you?
The privacy policy needs to include contact information for privacy issues. It often includes the email address or physical address of the individual who owns the websites data.
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Contact The Domain Owner
First things firstyou need to reach out to the domain owner. You might find their contact information using the steps listed above, often in the form of a physical mailing address. But if you want to reach out in a different way, there are some steps you can take to find the appropriate contact.
The best place to start is with a Google search. Simply enter the persons name on Google to see what comes up. You might also search email address or contact information. If that doesnt yield any results, check out databases like Hunter.
Once you get in touch with the domain owner, be prepared to negotiate a deal for the domain. Have a number in mind and be prepared to hear a counter offer. When preparing your number, consider the domain authority, or how much search equity the existing site has. If its clearly out of date and doesnt show up high in search result pages, you can offer a lower number. But for updated sites with a robust digital presence across multiple channels, youll likely have to start higher.
Choose Your Whois Lookup Tool
Theres a bunch of different WHOIS lookup options online to check who owns a domain.
These tools help you quickly search the WHOIS database. They provide such information as:
- Contact details of the domain owner
- The domain name registration.
The Interner Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers provides a simple summary of the WHOIS records. You see:
- The expiry date.
- The owner of the domain.
- The registration date.
- Where the domain points to.
It is available in a number of languages. It also provides useful information about registration policies and other topics.
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Why Look Up A Domain Owner
There are many reasons someone would want to look up a domain owner. Often, its because the owner can furnish information about the domain and website that no one else can. Its also common for domain owners to search themselves in order to confirm that their website is being accurately represented online.
Other reasons to look up a domain owner:
Choose The Right Domain For Your Online Business
Take the first step towards bringing your business online
It’s important to choose a domain name or URL, that’s easy to remember and spell so customers can find you easily. You can customize your domain name to your store name, and it can end in .com, .org, .gov, and even more creative things like .co or .io.
Search the availability of a domain name that reflects your business with Shopifys free WHOIS lookup. This search tool is designed to help you find information about a domain name, who might own it, and when it expires.
If the domain name you searched for is unavailable, use the WHOIS search to find out when it expires before you move into other ideas. If you have an exisiting website, the WHOIS tool can help you check domain information when transferring ownership to a new website.
How to come up with the right domain for your business
The WHOIS lookup tool lets you search an unlimited amount of domain names for your business. If your business name has already been registered by someone else, you can explore available domains based on your search.
Shopifys WHOIS search tool will provide you a list of recommended domains, but finding the right one that works for your brand is up to you. Knowing what makes the best domain isnt always easy, but when you register a website name, here are some factors to keep in mind:
Fast and easy domain names from Shopifys business name generator
Press cmd + d to bookmark
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What Is A Whois Lookup
Immediately after a domain has been registered, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers requires that accredited registrars such as Hostpoint publish the contact information of the owner, the domainâs registration and expiry date and other details in the Whois database.
The Whois database is a searchable list of all domains currently registered worldwide. A Whois domain lookup allows you to request domain name information about an already registered domain. Since data protection regulations have tightened, some data is usually no longer visible.
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Finding Out Who Owns A Domain
Many times youll want to know who is behind a domain. This used to be relatively easy to find out in the past: when a person bought a domain, their name was put into a registry, which is sort of like the phonebook of domains.
Back then, to find out who owned a domain, youd just go and look it up, using a service called WHOIS.
Unfortunately, things got more complicated. People who had their email addresses and names in the domain phonebook would get spam email, or the information displayed on the registry would be used to try to hack their site. And many peoplefor example, political dissidentshad good reason to not reveal their names. So, a lot of the registrars started offering masking services, which hide the owner of the domain.
Nowadays, if you want to find out who owns a domain, WHOIS-type services are a good first stop, even though they will usually fail for smaller sites.
To look up domain ownership, we recommend a tool called Domain Dossier. Go to the site and type in your root URL and check all the checkboxes:
Contact The Domain Name Owner
If one of the steps above leads you to the website owner, its time to reach out! Craft an email letting them know that youre interested in purchasing the domain.
To avoid looking like spam, make sure your email conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you have a professional email address at a domain name you own, that will look more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at least setting up a gmail address, which looks a bit more respectable.
Make sure your email includes:
- Your contact information both email and phone, so its easy for them to choose the method they prefer.
- Language that makes it clear youre willing to pay you may not want to include a specific offer yet , but theyre more likely to respond if they know this is a genuine business offer
- Something that shows your legitimacy how can you show youre a real person with serious intent? Maybe thats a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.
People get a lot of spam emails, so you want to clarify that youre a real person with real interest. If you can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much higher.
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What Is A Domain
A âdomainâ is a unique, symbolic name referring to a host on the internet. Domain names have a hierarchical structure. For example, Swiss domains have the â.châ suffix, German domains have the â.deâ suffix, and so on. This suffix is referred to as the top-level domain.
There are also generic top-level domains that do not denote specific countries but, instead, are intended for specific purposes. For example, â.comâ is reserved for commercial websites, â.bizâ for businesses, and â.museumâ for museums.