How Does Domain Name Checker Work
Enter website name you plan to register. Tool will look for similar domain names substituting your brand to other top level domains. If you want to know how to check if a website is available you can use our free tool or search the exact one in WHOis database.
What the exact difference between numerous TLDs? How to choose the best one? Most webmasters trying to get .com option for their websites, thats why they are more expensive or already has been taken. But you can choose among others TLD endings and find the most appropriate, like .club for your childs football team or .ca for your local office in Canada. All website extensions are considered equal for SEO purposes. Google wont give any preferences to .com TLD.
Before you start, ask yourself such questions like What describes my business / blog / me the best? or What users can easily type to find exactly my website easily and fast?. The answers you give will definitely speed up the process of choosing the name for your website. Type the keywords you choose into placeholder of domain search tool above to check the availability. If chosen .com extension is taken, there are hundreds of other domain endings available .
Use An Alternative Domain Extension
If your preferred domain is taken and you dont want to opt for an alternative, you can also try using a different TLD. Most site owners purchase domains that end in .com, but that isnt your only option.
Of course, you do want to be careful when choosing your TLD. Often, people will instinctively include .com when trying to visit a website directly, and this is especially true for older demographics. If thats your target audience, or if theres already a popular website at yourwebsite.com that your site might be confused with, it might be better to try an alternative second-level domain.
However, sometimes it does make sense to choose another TLD for your domain. In such cases, keep in mind that certain TLDs apply to specific types of sites and may even be restricted, such as .edu, .gov, and certain location-based domains.
When looking through the available TLDs, consider what might work best for your particular business. For example, if you run a jewelry business and you want an e-commerce website to go with it, you might choose to opt for .jewelry. Of course, there are a lot of fun ways to get creative with your TLD as well.
Why Is Your Dream Domain Name Suddenly Unavailable
Unfortunately, many domain search services are taking advantage of you at that moment by buying the domain out from under you and then offering to resell it to you at a higher price. When you check domain availability using their tools, you are literally helping them to identify a valuable asset that they can make more money on your dream domain is now seen as a desirable domain that is worth it for them to own & invest in the speculation that you will be willing to buy it back from them.
I know. It sucks. And unfortunately, it happens. This practice of domain buying & reselling is widespread, and even includes major hosting companies that you think you can trust. Whats up?
Well, this domain reselling practice is its a lousy and unethical thing to do, but perfectly legal. Basically, these hosting companies use the domain search tool on their websites as a way to gauge consumer interest in a given domain name. Its a reasonable assumption that if you are searching a particular domain for ownership, you will quite likely want to purchase it even if you dont do so that first day when you searched to see if it was available.
They know, of course, now that you want the domain you are more likely to pay more for it. If you had purchased it on the first day it would have been available for somewhere in the range of $8 $15 / year. Now? They offer you the chance to buy the domain from that mysterious someone at a much higher rate plus a commission!
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Short Or Long They Will Go After It
Take Time Warner Cable for example. They own TimeWarnerCable.com but at the same time, they bought twc.com which redirects to TimeWarnerCable.com. Coca-Cola, owns coke.com, Volkswagen owns vw.com Neat right? If the brand has a long name, they own the long domain, and they also own the abbreviation. On the other hand, if the companys name or should I say the brand is really short like HP, UPS, Nike, then again they own the .com and in most cases, the short domain opens the website.
Why is shortness an issue? Read here We are out of 4 letter .com domains.
Protip. WordPress, which is not a top 100 brand, owns wp.com.
Whats Needed To Register A Domain Name On Hostinger
Good news: there are no special requirements to register a domain name with us. In fact, were open to everyone – you included!
That said, well ask for certain information throughout the registration process to make sure that we have your contact details on file in case of any problems. Youll also need a valid payment method to pay for your domain name.
You dont have to be an existing customer of ours if you want to use Hostinger’s domain checker and register a domain name. You can point a domain name that you register with us to hosting that you own elsewhere. However, we usually find that its often best to keep everything in a single place. Thats why we offer both hosting and domain name registration services.
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Wpbeginner Business Name Generator
If youre starting a new business and want to find a domain name that represents your brand perfectly, then, WPBeginners Business Name Generator is the best platform.
WPBeginner offers a smart Business Name Generator tool that searches for new company names using artificial intelligence. It is also a reliable tool for finding what domain names are available.
With the integration with Bluehost, this domain name generator tool gives you domain suggestions that are available in real-time.
The tool is fast and reliable. Plus, you can secure an available domain name right away with a discounted offer from Bluehost. In case your preferred domain name is already taken, youll see similar suggestions and an option to make an offer on the domain name.
This will take you to the WHOIS database lookup where you can find the domain owners details to contact them and make your offer to buy an already taken domain name.
Why You Need A Domain Name
You dont really need your own domain name to simply create an online presence. A variety of free services provide space for users to set up a blog or basic webpage and give it a name, but that name becomes a subdomain of the main site and isnt a domain name you own. This means it appears online as something like _yoursite.hostname.com_ or _hostname.com/yoursite_. If the host site closes down, your sites identity disappears with itand it cant be used in that form to create a self-hosted site elsewhere.
To set up a fully functional website with its own permanent identity, you need to own a unique domain name that remains yours under all circumstances, regardless of the hosting service you choose. Buying a domain name and registering it reserves the name for your own exclusive use as long as the domain registration fees are paid for periods ranging from one to several years. To keep rights to the name, youll need to continue renewing it. If a domain registration expires and isnt renewed, the name can become available to others.
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How To Register A Domain Name
Once youve found the perfect domain name thats actually available, then its time for the easy part. Registering your domain.
If you were using the HostGator Domains tool to search for the availability of a domain, then youre already halfway there.
Just, add your domain to your cart, and complete the checkout steps.
Heres a brief walkthrough just in case:
Why Register A Domain Name With Hostinger
Hostinger provides you the cheapest domain registration with an instant activation & dedicated live support.
Cheap Domains & Renewals
Providing low cost domains is our mission! Only at Hostinger you will get cheapest domain names with premium service quality. Thanks to our special agreement with TLD owners, we can provide exclusively low prices on the most popular domain names. 99 cent domain names are our privileged feature, cheap domain renewal price is our biggest strength, special domain checker is our tool to your success!
Trusted Top Domain Registrar
Premium hosting quality and the best domain prices – only at Hostinger. Were trusted by millions, recognised by reputable companies and TLD providers. Hostinger is a part of an elite ICANN accredited domain registrars community with more than 40 business units around the globe. Choose only a trusted domain provider with the highest quality guarantee level & dedicated in-house live support.
Domain Privacy Protection
Your domain privacy is our top priority. Naturally, by registering your domain name, other registrars will list all your personal registration details in WHOIS database that is in most cases publicly accessible. Hostinger, as a trusted & ICANN accredited domain provider, provides exclusive Domain Privacy Protection Service that will hide all your private information details from the public eye. Keep your privacy!
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How Do I Know If A Domain Name Is Available
In this post I will explain how to check if a domain name is available.
In order to find out if a domain name is available or not you need to use the services of a domain registration company.
They offer a domain search facility where you can do as many searches as you like in order to choose the right domain for your website.
Watch this video on the everything you need to know about domains.
Domain Search Tool #: Google Worlds Largest Domain Information Database
You know very well about Google. No need to explain its dominance. Googlebot is a very diligent web spider. Now I will show you how to search for available domains using the Google search engine.
Head over your browser to Google.com. Use this search query to find out whether that domain is or not. Alternatively, you can also use Bing or Yahoo search engines. But I recommend you to use Google to find not yet registered domains because Google crawls new websites more speedily than other search engines.
site:exampledomain.com
The above search query will find a .com domain if its already indexed by Google. Heres what I was going to explain to you.
You can see that Labnol.org domain has been already indexed by Google. That means the Labnol.org domain is a registered domain. Heres another one
Now look at this Google result page.
Google didnt find a domain called volleyballtraininginstitute.com in their search index. So I will go to this domain to make sure its not registered. Heres what I see.
Google chrome informs me that This webpage is not available. Which means its not yet registered.
Not only you can find available top level domains such as .com, .net and .org, but also you can search more custom domain extensions such as .ly, .com.au, .lk, .in, .pk, .cn etc.
You dont need to go through other tools to check the domain name availability. Just using one search query, you can find the domain name availability.
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Use Our Domain Name Checker To Pick The Best Result
Our domain name availability search tool is specially designed to help you find available domains that will be most beneficial to you. Some domains are very expensive, while others are a lot more affordable. Gandis domain checker tool helps you see which available domains are currently discounted. That way, comparing prices and finding the best deal on available domains is simple! But beyond pricing, what are the attributes to consider when it comes to picking the best domain name for you?
What If The Right Name Isnt Available
If the domain name you want is already in use, most name search tools also provide multiple alternatives to choose from, using different word combinations, spellings, or extensions. Your ideal name may already be in use with .com, the webs most recognizable extension, but it might be available with another less familiar one such as .net, .org, or any of the many new TDL extensions that are now available, like .me, .photo, or .us.it might also be available with a slight change in phrasing or spelling.
If none of these alternatives sound appealing, you can brainstorm a new name, or search for name variants using a variety of online name generator tools. These tools typically generate domain names based on the keywords or phrases you provide. If you decide to try one of these generated names, its important to run it through a domain name checker before you register it to be sure that it is actually available.
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Whats The Difference Between Com Net Org And Info
Lets take a look at the similarities first: theyre all gTLDs that are available for public registration. That means that as long as nobody else has registered the specific domain name that youre looking for, you should be able to get it with any of these extensions.
Each of the gTLDs has a slightly different meaning, and so its usually best to pick the one thats most relevant to your website. .com domains are usually used for commercial purposes, such as for an online store or a business site, although theyre increasingly being used by default as they imply a certain amount of trust. .net domains were originally used by networking companies but are now also multipurpose.
.org is still largely used as it was originally intended, as a gTLD for charities, communities and local organisations. .info, meanwhile, is aimed at information-based websites such as wikis and tutorial sites.
With all of these gTLDs, theres a certain amount of wiggle room. Theres no rule that says you have to use one type of domain name or another and no test that you have to pass if you want to register one. Think of them as guidelines rather than rules and feel free to break them if it allows you to snatch up the perfect domain name.
Acquiring An Existing Domain Name
In some cases, the name you want may already be taken, but you can still acquire it. Existing domain names become available for purchase for a variety of reasons. Some may have been purchased as original names for websites that were never developed or were abandoned when a business closed or the user simply stopped maintaining the site. Others become available for sale because of a practice called cybersquatting, in which speculators create or buy up large numbers of available domain names and then sell them on marketplace and auction sites for high prices.
Even if a name is being used on an active website, you still may be able to buy it directly from its original owner. Although it could take some detective work, you might be able to track down a domains registered owner through the sites contact information or its WHOIS data and negotiate a sale. Buying an active domain can be helpful if the site attached to the domain name already has content and search engine traffic related to your business or niche.
Your domain name is the anchor of your brands online identity, and its an essential component of a self-hosted site that is under your control. Choosing a domain name and making sure its exclusively yours is the key first step toward creating a permanent online home for your business or service. Once you find the perfect name for your website, its time to register your domain!
Machielle Thomas|Content Manager
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