Check the History of a Domain Name FIRST before Registering It

Summary:
Before registering one or more Domain Names for your business, company (and/or other entity type), know what you are getting first. This is very important for the success of your website. Every successful website entrepreneur and/or SEO expert knows this, but often small business owners don’t get told this, so I have written this blog post which also shares ways to actually check the history of a Domain Name, if you want to give it a go (DIY). OR you can always contact us to do this for you.

Why check the history of a Domain Name?

Firstly I should write: If you have never been shown how to check if a Domain Name is available to register, a WhoIs tool is used for this. One of these tools is WhoIs.com

Once you find a Domain Name that is suitable and available, DON’T jump-the-gun and register it straight away. Instead, check its Domain Name history.

Why check the history of a Domain Name? This activity reveals past usage, potential spam history, and SEO strength of a Domain Name, preventing you from registering and using a Domain Name that may be penalised by Google (and other Search Engines) and/or ‘blacklisted’. You DO NOT want to use a Domain Name that has a bad history. This can HURT your business! You also do not want to get a penalty from Google (research 
“why I do not want a Google penalty” if you don’t know about this very serious subject.  

If you google “how do I check the history of a domain name including its backlink profile” you’ll find some useful content. I’ve also written some information below:

Tip: Did you know you can use a Reverse WhoIs Lookup Tool to find many Domain Names that an individual person has registered. This can be very handy for many reasons. One such tool is www.reversewhois.io/

Researching the history of a Domain Name

First thing to do is use these basic Domain Name history checking methods:

  1. Wayback Machine (web.archive.org): This free tool takes snapshots of any website during its life (from previous years). You can use this tool to see if the Domain Name was used for reputable purposes, OR for spam and/or other unethical purposes. 
  2. WHOIS History (DomainTools, WhoisXML): This tool tracks who owned the Domain Name in the past. It shows all sorts of good things like ownership changes, registration dates, and privacy setting history.
  3. Google Transparency Report: Check if the domain name has been flagged for malware, phishing, or other security issues.
  4. DNS History (WhoIsFreaks): Verify if the site changed IP addresses frequently, which could indicate suspicious activity. There are many similar tools like whois-history.whoisxmlapi.com

Next, it’s time to check the Backlink Profile of the Domain Name (Note: unless you’re really into website stuff, no one would expect you to know what a ‘backlink profile’ is. Google “what is a website backlink profile and why should I care” if you want to find out.)

  1. Use Ahrefs/SEMrush/Majestic: We mostly use SEMRush. Use one of these tools, or their free versions, to analyse the quality, quantity, and relevance of websites linking to the Domain Name.
  2. Spam Check: Analyse if the backlinks are from low-quality, irrelevant, or spammy websites, which can harm SEO. Make sure the Domain Name is not blacklisted.
  3. Backlink Velocity: Examine how quickly the domain acquired or lost backlinks. Do this to identify unnatural patterns. Unnatural patterns look very gamey and spammy to Google and other search engines. It is one reason why when doing SEO work for a website, you don’t try and gain too many backlinks too quickly. Instead, there are methods that MUST be used, which we use.

Using these tools you can check the history of a Domain Name yourself. 15 – 30 mins research work vs registering a bad domain name and then unknowingly suffering the consequences of this during the next X number of years of your business journey is well worth it.

If you don’t want to check the history of a Domain Name, we can always do this for you. We’re always here to help and only a phone call or form message away. 

Tip: When using The Wayback Machine, read at least parts of the previous (old) websites the Domain Name was connected to. Look out for ‘irrelevant content’ that does not relate to the topic of the Domain Name and/or content related to gambling, adult content or anything else that you would not want your business associated with. Using a Domain Name that has that sort of history is high-risk.

Additional Tip:

Tip: GoDaddy has a marketplace (an auction site) where you can monitor expired Domain Names. Sometimes using this auction site can be of great advantage. As in, sometimes acquiring one or more expired Domain Names can be of great benefit! Watch the below video to find out more. 

Make Digital Work for You

In this digital age, the correct digital marketing strategies and their correct implementation is proven to help grow a business effectively. Many old methods are outdated, no longer work and should be ignored, but current methods yield results. Join our mailing list to receive:

  • Correct and up-to-date digital marketing methods
  • Highly useful information and resources direct to your email each week.
  • Exclusive special offers
  • Information about how to achieve a website that converts (and becomes successful)
  • 5% off our 6 month Growth Roadmap service
  • Marketing strategies to help grow your business
Share the Post:
Scroll to Top