Domain History: How to Check the History of a Domain Name
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 8:21 am
Whether you're an entrepreneur , a business owner, or just a casual internet historian, you might find it helpful to know exactly how to dig into the history of a domain name — which sounds more complicated than it actually is. By simply typing a domain name into a text box, you can quickly get a lot of information. Read on to learn how oman b2b leads
it works and how to find domain history for free .
Contents hide
1 Why you might want to look at a domain's history
1.1 Study of competitors
1.2 Buying a Secondary Market Domain
1.3 Acquiring an existing website
1.4 Contact the website owner
1.5 Ensuring Security
2 How to view domain history
2.1 How to perform a basic WHOIS search
2.1.1 Step 1: Find a WHOIS lookup service
2.1.2 Step 2: Enter the domain name in the search box
2.1.3 Step 3: Check the results
2.2 How to find the WHOIS history of a domain
2.2.1 Step 1: Go to the site of your choice
2.2.2 Step 2: Enter the domain name
2.2.3 Step 3: Check the information
3 Alternatively, you can use the Wayback Machine
3.1 How to Search the Wayback Machine
3.1.1 Step 1: Go to archive.org
3.1.2 Step 2: Find the domain you want to check
4 Other tools and tips
4.1 Start with Google (or your favorite equivalent)
4.2 Check your social networks
4.3 Ask around in relevant communities
4.4 Searching for a domain in Moz Domain Analysis
4.5 Last but not least, check the site's backlinks
5 Knowing the history of domain names is power
6 What is a domain questions and answers
6.1 Related publications:
Why you might want to look at a domain's history
The history of a domain name provides a lot of information that cannot be obtained by simply looking at an existing website .
Researching competitors
You can learn a lot about your competitors by looking at their domain and website history. How long has it been around? Has the domain been sold before? How much did it cost? The answers to these questions can give you a great deal of insight into the value of a particular domain. From there, you can begin to formulate your own marketing and SEO strategies , taking into account your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Buying a Secondary Market Domain
Perhaps you want to buy a specific domain for yourself, but you know that the one you have in mind is on pre-sale. By researching the history of a domain, you can find out what reputation it has with search engines and email providers (which can affect your site's discoverability and your communications, respectively).
Purchasing an existing website
Perhaps you are planning to buy an entire website. Researching the history of a website that is up for sale can give you a good idea of its past popularity, the number of sales, and whether people have had good experiences with the domain in the past.
Contact the website owner
Sometimes filling out contact forms on a website results in no response. When you need to make direct contact with the owner of the site — whether it's to buy a domain or just get information about a product you ordered from them — digging into the domain history can help you find the right contact.
Ensuring security
Researching a domain name's history can help identify scammers , spammers, and fraudsters. If you're considering doing business with a company and have questions about its business practices, research its domain to see if its site has been linked to any news stories about scams or overzealous marketing efforts.
How to view domain history
An important domain name history tool is a WHOIS lookup . In short, WHOIS is a system for finding information about the owner of any domain name. By default, every domain name is automatically associated with the owner’s full name and contact information. You can also find out what company the domain is registered to, which can be useful when resolving domain disputes (by the way, if you’re looking to buy a domain after you’re done here, check out this list of the best domain registrars ). There are two main types of WHOIS lookups: a basic search for the “nuts and bolts” information, and a history search, which provides more detailed information. A basic WHOIS lookup will only show you the current status of the domain, where it’s registered, the server it’s pointed to, and other information related to its current status. A WHOIS history lookup will show you all of that information, but will also show all past registrars, servers, and owners. Basically, every significant change to a domain name is tracked in the WHOIS history, and you can see all of it using the appropriate tools.
]
How to Perform a Basic WHOIS Search
A basic WHOIS search will only show you the current status of a domain, but it's a useful start. Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Find a WHOIS lookup service
You can quickly and easily find current owner information here on Shopify .
Step 2: Enter the domain name in the search box
For this tutorial, we've chosen manitobah.com, an online store that sells shoes designed by Native Canadians.
Step 3: Check the results
These results show the current status/registrar of manitobah.com, as well as the date the domain was created, the na
it works and how to find domain history for free .
Contents hide
1 Why you might want to look at a domain's history
1.1 Study of competitors
1.2 Buying a Secondary Market Domain
1.3 Acquiring an existing website
1.4 Contact the website owner
1.5 Ensuring Security
2 How to view domain history
2.1 How to perform a basic WHOIS search
2.1.1 Step 1: Find a WHOIS lookup service
2.1.2 Step 2: Enter the domain name in the search box
2.1.3 Step 3: Check the results
2.2 How to find the WHOIS history of a domain
2.2.1 Step 1: Go to the site of your choice
2.2.2 Step 2: Enter the domain name
2.2.3 Step 3: Check the information
3 Alternatively, you can use the Wayback Machine
3.1 How to Search the Wayback Machine
3.1.1 Step 1: Go to archive.org
3.1.2 Step 2: Find the domain you want to check
4 Other tools and tips
4.1 Start with Google (or your favorite equivalent)
4.2 Check your social networks
4.3 Ask around in relevant communities
4.4 Searching for a domain in Moz Domain Analysis
4.5 Last but not least, check the site's backlinks
5 Knowing the history of domain names is power
6 What is a domain questions and answers
6.1 Related publications:
Why you might want to look at a domain's history
The history of a domain name provides a lot of information that cannot be obtained by simply looking at an existing website .
Researching competitors
You can learn a lot about your competitors by looking at their domain and website history. How long has it been around? Has the domain been sold before? How much did it cost? The answers to these questions can give you a great deal of insight into the value of a particular domain. From there, you can begin to formulate your own marketing and SEO strategies , taking into account your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Buying a Secondary Market Domain
Perhaps you want to buy a specific domain for yourself, but you know that the one you have in mind is on pre-sale. By researching the history of a domain, you can find out what reputation it has with search engines and email providers (which can affect your site's discoverability and your communications, respectively).
Purchasing an existing website
Perhaps you are planning to buy an entire website. Researching the history of a website that is up for sale can give you a good idea of its past popularity, the number of sales, and whether people have had good experiences with the domain in the past.
Contact the website owner
Sometimes filling out contact forms on a website results in no response. When you need to make direct contact with the owner of the site — whether it's to buy a domain or just get information about a product you ordered from them — digging into the domain history can help you find the right contact.
Ensuring security
Researching a domain name's history can help identify scammers , spammers, and fraudsters. If you're considering doing business with a company and have questions about its business practices, research its domain to see if its site has been linked to any news stories about scams or overzealous marketing efforts.
How to view domain history
An important domain name history tool is a WHOIS lookup . In short, WHOIS is a system for finding information about the owner of any domain name. By default, every domain name is automatically associated with the owner’s full name and contact information. You can also find out what company the domain is registered to, which can be useful when resolving domain disputes (by the way, if you’re looking to buy a domain after you’re done here, check out this list of the best domain registrars ). There are two main types of WHOIS lookups: a basic search for the “nuts and bolts” information, and a history search, which provides more detailed information. A basic WHOIS lookup will only show you the current status of the domain, where it’s registered, the server it’s pointed to, and other information related to its current status. A WHOIS history lookup will show you all of that information, but will also show all past registrars, servers, and owners. Basically, every significant change to a domain name is tracked in the WHOIS history, and you can see all of it using the appropriate tools.
]
How to Perform a Basic WHOIS Search
A basic WHOIS search will only show you the current status of a domain, but it's a useful start. Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Find a WHOIS lookup service
You can quickly and easily find current owner information here on Shopify .
Step 2: Enter the domain name in the search box
For this tutorial, we've chosen manitobah.com, an online store that sells shoes designed by Native Canadians.
Step 3: Check the results
These results show the current status/registrar of manitobah.com, as well as the date the domain was created, the na