Other Methods For Searching The Ownership Of A Domain Name
If you have tried the WHOIS database method to find the domain ownership but fails to find the desired information then there many other methods are also available through which you can look up a domain owner.
- Search Google for Domain Name and contact: You can check the domain name by searching for it on Google. If the domain name owner had a public registration record then anyone may have achieved it
- Check the About Us, and Contact Us of the website: You may find the details of the website owner on its Contact us and About us page.
- Social Media: Find social media accounts by using the same name. You may also lookup the domain owner by searching it on social media. Many domain name owners use their domain names as its username.
However, if the owner has registered for domain privacy than it is quite difficult to find the ownership information.
How To Find Out Who Owns A Website Or Domain
You can also find out when it’s going to expire
Wouldnt it be nice to know who owned a certain website? Previously, I wrote about how you can find out who is hosting a website, but that only tells you where the server is located. If you want to verify the owner of a domain name or see when one expires , performing a WHOIS lookup is the way to go.
If you perform a search in Google for WHOIS, youll get a bunch of results, but normally the first one is whois.net. By visiting www.whois.net, you can not only find out who owns a certain domain name, but also when it was purchased and more importantly, when it is due to expire.
Looking up a domain name on www.whois.net is very simple. All you have to do is enter in the web address you want to look up and presto all the information you wanted will appear. For example, if you look up the website address for the WHOIS site, you will find out some important information. In the screen shot below, we can tell that the domain name was purchased in 1997 and they have paid for it through 2018 .
While WHOIS is a great reference for when you want to find information about someone elses website, but it can be a problem when its the other way around. When purchasing a domain or even afterwards, most companies provide a private registration benefit that will remove any personal information about the owner.
Why You Might Want To Find The Owner Of A Website
Wanting to purchase a domain is the most common reason for learning how to find the owner of a website. Lets say youre starting your own website, and you do a URL availability search or a Bluehost domain search only to find that the domain you want is taken.
You can find the owner of the domain or website and contact that person to see if theyre willing to sell you the domain.
There are a few other reasons you might want to find the owner of a domain or website. Perhaps you wish to contact the website owner for another reason, such as having a question about their content or design.
And finally, you might want to find the owner of a website if you believe that the content or the business is questionable.
Whatever reason you choose, there are several strategies you can use to look up a websites owner or domain registration history.
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Search For The Domain Name Youre Interested In
Now, simply type in the domain name you want to find out more information about into the search bar and press enter. Whenever a domain owner decides to register the domain, theyre required to include information such as their name, address, email, and phone number. A Whois lookup can also tell you which registrar the domain is at, when it was registered, when it could potentially expire, and more.
What Is Domain Owner Or Website Owner
Domain owner means the legal owner of a domain name. It can belong to the person or organization listed as the domains registrar as the owner of the particular domain name. Domains typically have four contacts: registrant/owner, admin, technical, and billing.
There are few types of domain names, for normal TLD domain name, you can check the contacts listed using a WHOIS Lookup, if the WHOIS Lookup does not display the owner information, and it wont be displayed due to the persons/owner added with Domain Privacy Protection.
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What Is A Whois Ip Lookup
An IP is a unique address of a server on the internet. Similar to how a telephone number allows you to connect to a specific phone on the telecom network, similarly, an IP address allows your computer to connect to a specific server on the internet.
Domain names and IP numbers are the framework upon which the entire world wide web is built.
IP numbers are assigned to networking organisations with a record maintained by governing bodies for each IP number and the organisation to which it has been assigned. A whois IP lookup allows you track the above mentioned details for a domain.
Pay For And Transfer Domain Ownership
If the domain is going to cost you over $200, you need to be sure you get an agreement in writing, signed by both you and the individual selling the domain. That way, if anything gets weird or goes wrong, you can point back to the agreement and get the domain you paid for in court.
You should then create an account where the domain owners domain is registered for easy transfer. Pay the owner for the domain with the payment method they request, and then you should see the domain in your own account within one to two business days from the transfer start.
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What Is A Domain Name
A domain name is a website address. It is the unique identifier of a website and it acts as a pointer to the websites physical location on the Internet. The organization of each domain is different and each class has different limitations on how many addresses can be used.
For example, .com is an unrestricted class that allows millions of domains to be registered under it. .net has limited numbers of registrations but it is unrestricted in length.
Domain names are a part of the Internet and an essential tool for online marketing. They represent unique, easy-to-remember strings of characters that enable you to identify websites and the services they offer. A domain name is a globally unique name, usually in the form of a dot-com , a dot-net , or a dot-org . It is also named as an Internet address.
The internets domain name system is a crucial component of the global web. It allows people to connect to websites by giving them a unique numerical address, called a domain name. Without DNS, we wouldnt be able to easily share information on the internet and access our favorite websites like Google or Facebook.
Visit The Website Directly
If youve checked the domain status to find out your wanted domain name is not available, the first thing you should do is visit the website directly.
Some domain names are bought out to be resold later for a higher price. In such cases, the site will state the domains availability for sale and provide contact information right away, like in the example below.
If you enter the domain name into the search bar and get taken to a proper website, see if there is a Contact Us page in the navigation bar or the sites footer.
There you will either find the contact details of the website owner or a contact form. Take the chance to reach out and offer to buy the domain name from the registrant.
Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Register A Domain
Whys It Necessary To Have A Whois Database
The ability to find domain info quickly and accurately is important for a couple main reasons: 1. A WHOIS check is essential for people in the business of buying and selling domains. These individuals need a method of communication for their transactions. A WHOIS search will provide one or more methods for reaching the current owner of a web address. 2. The WHOIS database is a way to maintain accountability for people who operate online. For example, if you felt someone was using your trademarks on their website, the WHOIS database provides a number of ways to resolve that dispute.
Why Should Registrants Still Utilize Whois Privacy Services
The WHOIS database lists information about each domain registration online and is open to the public. In regards to Registrant information, the amount that is displayed publicly may differ based on a number of factors, including:
- The specific domain extension
- The type of Registrant used for the registration
This means that malicious entities are still able to quickly access this public directory and survey for potential pieces of information to exploits. By replacing your information through a privacy service, your information is effectively blocked from public access.
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How Do I Find Available Domains Through The Whois Database
You can check the availability of a domain name by searching for it on the Whois database. It will give you the status of whether the domain name that you are looking for is available or not. Doing this for multiple domain names over time can help you build a list of available domain names.
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What Is The Process To Hide Whois Information
All Hostingers domain names come with optional WHOIS Privacy setting that can be activated through the hPanel. Simply follow this WHOIS Privacy activation guide, and youll have it set in minutes.
Its also important to mention that, even without the WHOIS Privacy protection active, your personal details and contact information is not shown if your domain is registered in the EU, thanks to the GDPR.
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A Paid Tool For Tougher To Find Info: Domainiq
Whether youve hit a brick wall, or youre simply happy to pay to take a shortcut, or this is a problem you hit regularly & the time saving and extra info is worth it, our favourite paid domain hunting tool is DomainIQ.
DomainIQ is a tool from Intelium Corp .
DomainIQ offers a huge range of features aimed at helping you to find out who owns a particular domain, or which domains a particular person owns.
Heres an example of two of the primary features of the tool. Firstly, the core overview report for a domain :
You can also see there at the top, the tabs Portfolio, Whois , Whois History , and Related Domains.
Whois History is perhaps the most useful of those. Heres an example:
Obviously the example weve used is Samsung, but in the case of a privately owned domain this can be extremely useful for finding out who owned the domain in the past, or simply for searching back prior to a domain falling under a privacy protection system.
Aside from the above, the core set of features is as follows:
Most of these features are available with every level of access, but with limitations around how frequently you can use them:
Outside of these core features, there are also many others. For example, the Snapshot History tool has a database of historical snapshots for most websites over a certain size. This is sometimes useful for seeing older versions of sites, from which you can sometimes get contact info:
Why Do Some Whois Queries Have More Information Than Others
With WHOIS now in a state of change due in part to privacy laws such as GDPR, the data displayed in a WHOIS lookup can vary to some degree as each of the Registrant, Registrar and Registry have a jurisdictional nexus with such laws.
Where a nexus with the EU’s GDPR is present, Personally Identifiable Information will often be removed or redacted from WHOIS output.
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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.
Migrate Your Site To The New Domain
Once youve secured ownership of the domain in question, youll want to migrate your existing site to that domain name.
If you build your website on a platform like Shopify, you can migrate to or from pretty much any online site builder. There are several options for migrating a site to Shopify, each being a relatively simple process.
Learn more: Get the features you need to grow your businessand the support to switch smoothly with Shopify website migration.
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To Check Domain Name Availability
If you are not sure whether the name is free, you can use Whois Domain Lookup tool to check the availability of the name. If no information is available, you can register this domain name.
Find out not only the information about domain, but also the presence of technical errors on it!
Make a full audit to find out and fix your technical SEO in order to improve your SERP results.
Proven Ways To Discover The Owner Of A Website
When someone wants to create a website, they have to register the domain name. Theyre reserving the address on the internet for a certain period. When they register a domain, theyre added to the domain registration history.
If you want to learn how to find the owner of a website, there are plenty of online resources to help you out.
Keep reading to find out:
- How to find the owner of a website
- How to look up the domain registration history of a website
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