Have you ever come across a website and wondered who owns it or manages it? Performing a WHOIS lookup allows you to find out key details about a domain name, including who owns it, when it was registered, and when it expires. Understanding how to use WHOIS can help you research domains and gain valuable insights. This beginner’s guide will teach you what WHOIS is, why it’s useful, and how to perform a lookup.
What is a WHOIS Lookup?
WHOIS is a publicly available online database that contains registration information about domain names. It allows you to look up the availability of a domain, as well as identify the registrant (owner) and administrative contacts for a domain that has already been registered. When you perform a WHOIS search on a domain, you’ll typically get details like:
- Domain name registration date
- The registrar through which the domain was registered
- Name, address, email and phone number of the domain registrant
- Name servers hosting the domain
- The expiration date for the domain registration
This information can help you learn more about a website, identify website owners, perform research, and also protect against internet scams or fraud.
Why Perform a WHOIS Lookup?
There are a few key reasons why you may want to do a WHOIS domain lookup:
- Verify site ownership: Performing a WHOIS can help you identify who owns a particular website. This is useful if you want to contact a site owner for networking, business partnerships, or even reporting abuse.
- Research domains: If you’re interested in registering a new domain, you can do a WHOIS search to see if it’s available and identify the registrar. For existing sites, you can search for domain registration details.
- Investigate potential scams: If a website seems suspicious, a WHOIS can provide details about when and by whom the domain was registered. This can help you identify fake or scam websites.
- Brand monitoring: Businesses can use WHOIS to monitor domains containing their trademarks and identify cybersquatting or copyright infringement.
- Competitive research: Look up competitor websites to gather intel, like when they were first launched, which registrar they use, and when their domain expires.
Overall, WHOIS lookup provides transparency into vital domain name details that can inform your browsing, research, and online security.
How to Perform a WHOIS Search
Many free online tools exist to perform WHOIS lookups. Here are the basic steps:
- Go to a WHOIS search engine like Whois.com, Whois.net, or Whois.icann.org.
- Enter the domain name you want to lookup. For example, “example.com”.
- Click “Search” or hit enter to run the WHOIS search.
- The results page will now display the registration details for that domain. You can review the registrant, dates, name servers, and other data.
Key data points to look for include:
- Registrant Name – The owner of the domain.
- Registrar – The registrar through which the domain was registered.
- Updated Date – The last time the WHOIS record was updated.
- Creation Date – When the domain was first registered.
- Expiry Date – The date the registration expires.
- Name Servers – The DNS servers hosting the domain.
WHOIS records can vary across registries and countries, but most will contain the critical fields needed to get insight into domain ownership and history.
Conclusion
In summary, WHOIS is useful for researching domains, verifying site owners, monitoring brands, and investigating potential scams. With many free online lookup options, it’s easy for beginners to start leveraging WHOIS data. Just enter a domain, review the output, and repeat for any other sites you want intel on. WHOIS provides an informative view of domain registrations.
