There are times when you look at something and wonder who made it. The same goes for websites. Whether you stumbled upon an online educational resource or a gossip website, you begin to think about who came up with the idea to create it. You might also be interested in purchasing the domain name. However, the manufacturer is not always the owner. Websites are sold all the time. Therefore, a website belongs either to the creator or to a buyer.
Identifying the ownership of a website stems from many reasons. It helps you understand why the website was built, how many sites a person or business has, and more. For political and controversial posts, knowing the creator can provide much-needed context. Whatever the reasons, how can you see the owner of a website in the first place? Let's break it down.
Use WHOIS to identify the website owner
You might be wondering what WHOIS is in the first place. Simply put, this term is used whenever someone wants to access information on a website. Whenever someone registers a web domain, the relevant information becomes part of a public database.
If you are looking for domain name, IP address or even address and contact numbers, WHOIS will be your best friend.
Sites Internet WHOIS :
- Search WHOIS GoDaddy
- whois.net
- whois.icann.org
- whois.com
- whois.domaintools.com
- who is
- whois-search.com
All WHOIS websites are quite similar, with a few exceptions. In general, here's what you'll find:
- Holder
- Clerk
- Registrar status
- Relevant dates
- Name servers
- IP adress
- IP location
- ASN
- Domain Status
- WHOIS history
- IP history
- Registrar history
- Accommodation history
- WHOIS server
- Website response code
- Website SEO Score
- Website Terms
- Website Images
- Website links
- WHOIS registration
Checking WHOIS data
Information can always be falsified, but organizations and individuals do their best to establish the truth. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) knows that WHOIS information must be accurate.
With the 2013 RAA, registrars are now required to verify WHOIS data fields. This requirement means that contact numbers and addresses must always be updated. To assess the state of WHOIS data, ICANN is conducting extensive studies on this topic.
Use of WHOIS
- Visit any website with a WHOIS feature.
- Enter the website URL in the search bar.
- Look at the results.
Ideally, you will get all the information you need. Details include phone numbers, addresses, registrar details and even the name of the registrant (usually the company name).
Private check-in issues
For domain owners of the most important websites and those who generally value privacy, the WHOIS lookup tool is not enough for you. This scenario is because domain name registrars offer website owners the domain privacy option to secure their personal information. Although GoDaddy has a WHOIS feature, they also allow their customers to get domain privacy protection.
There are good reasons why domain owners hide information:
- Prevent the receipt of spam and other unwanted messages
- Avoid increasing the probability of being hacked
- Prevent takeover bids on a domain they want to keep
So, it's no wonder people are paying more for domain privacy. This saves them time deleting spam and protects their websites from possible exploitation.
Anyway, you can get an idea of the number of domains with the same owner using other methods.
To find more information despite this domain privacy feature, you have several options:
Contact the domain registrar if you wish to purchase the domain
Since website owner information is private, the registrar has the details you need. Unfortunately, you must contact the registrar and they will forward the information to the website owner. The WHOIS website should contain contact information for the registrar, such as a phone number or email address. Just mention that you are interested in the domain if and when it becomes available. Some domain name owners are ready to sell them, while others may not be interested in making a deal. Others plan to delete the name after it expires.
Reverse IP Lookup
Another option is to perform a reverse IP lookup. It's quite similar to how you would do a WHOIS lookup. In fact, a site that performs reverse IP lookups only needs a domain name.
- Go to spyonweb.com
- Enter the domain name or IP address in the search bar
- View Results
While it's not surprising to see an IP address having five domains, which probably means it only has one owner, one showing hundreds of domains most likely means one domain owner is using just a shared host. A shared host means that a domain owner does not have control over other websites under the same IP address.
Finding Website and Domain Owners
In conclusion, you shouldn't be surprised when you do a WHOIS lookup and find that the real owner of the domain is not shown because of a domain privacy tool. If you want to know how many domains an individual can have, you can perform the four reverse lookups provided above.
See our article on the whois command if you want to learn how to use it.
Share your thoughts and experiences on finding website and domain owners below.
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