Purchasing a domain is among the most important things to do when you are making a website or an online business. But not all domains have an impeccable reputation. A site that appears secure and beneficial to use could be a victim of some dark past, such as scams, phishing, or other illegal methods. This can impact your website’s rank in search results and decrease confidence in your company’s image, and can result in sanctions or blockades by email providers or browsers. So, before you make an investment decision in buying domains, it is important to conduct an exhaustive review of the domain’s history.
Recognizing the “bad past” that a website has can assist you in avoiding uncomfortable situations in the near future, including getting blacklisted or losing your credibility. There are a variety of reliable methods to determine the history of a domain, each of which contains vital information about the domain’s past use. In this article, we’ll go over the methods that can help you find any potential problems before registering the domain under your name.
Table of Contents
Reviewing Domain History through WHOIS
WHOIS is a well-known tool to verify registration information for the domain. It is crucial to note that WHOIS only gives information about the present status of the domain, which can alter over time. This tool, therefore, only provides a glimpse into the domain’s history, because in the event that the domain doesn’t have any ownership changes, or if its earlier records were changed, WHOIS won’t provide enough details.
If WHOIS doesn’t provide sufficient data, you may refer to the site’s WHOIS history by using specialist services such as DomainTools as well as WhoisXML API. Both of these services permit users to obtain more specific information about changes in registrations in the last few years. These services will help you identify if a domain was linked to suspicious businesses or other organizations.
Verifying Reputation on Search Engines
Search engines, particularly Google, have internal registries of domains that do not comply with their guidelines. If the domain has been used to conduct phishing, spam, or any other shady activities, it can affect its reputation negatively and, in turn, reduce the chances of being highly ranked on search engine results.
To verify the reputation of the domain, you can check the reputation of a domain using these services:
- Google Search Console: In the Google Search Console, when the domain isn’t registered on your website, you can look up previous data and penalties with different tools to determine whether the domain has been subject to penalties by Google.
- Ahrefs or SEMrush: The tools analyse domains for hyperlinks and determine if the domain is involved in spam or any other violation of the rules for search engines.
These services help to determine the negative history of a domain and determine if its use can cause SEO issues.
Be sure to look for Phishing
One of the major dangers when buying a domain is its involvement in attacks on phishing attacks. In the event that your domain has been included in phishing websites, it may result in your website being censored by browsers or even being blacklisted by antivirus software.
To determine if a website is phishing, you can use these tools:
- PhishTank: The PhishTank is among the most popular resources to check websites for fraud. It lets you determine the authenticity of a domain to trick users.
- Google Safe Browsing: This service will determine if the domain is on the list of potentially dangerous websites that could be blocked by Google Chrome users.
Checking via Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine lets you look back at old versions of the website that utilized the domain. This can be useful in finding out the way in which the domain was used in the past, and whether it was involved in any negative actions. With the Wayback Machine, you can look at what the website was like a few years ago, and determine whether it was associated with material that could hurt its image.
Be sure to check for spam links
Spam is among the most frequently encountered issues for domains, particularly if they were used for the mass distribution of spam messages. When a domain is associated with an email spamming network, that might cause email servers to fail to transmit messages to the domain.
To verify the domain’s authenticity for spammy links, you can employ these tools:
- Web of Trust (WOT) lets you verify the reputation of a domain and its links to potentially harmful websites.
- MXToolbox: This program lets you determine if the mail servers of your domain were involved in massive spam distributions.
Checking Email
When a domain is used to send spam messages, its email servers could be blacklisted. This means you’ll experience problems sending emails since several email providers stop emails sent from this domain.
To verify mail servers, make use of:
- MXToolbox to examine the settings of the mail server for the domain.
- Spamhaus to find lists of domains that are blacklisted and IP addresses.
The Domain is cleaned and is preventing future problems
Examining the “bad background” of a domain is an essential procedure that can prevent unwelcome surprises later on in the near future. In reality, many issues can be spotted prior to them becoming serious threats to your website. Even though the domain with an unpopular reputation can be “cleaned,” it’s better to select a domain that has an unblemished past in order to avoid the challenges in restoring its image. The process of getting a domain’s reputation back can be laborious and time-consuming; therefore, it’s vital to take every step to avoid problems from the beginning.
When you examine the domain with trusted services, you are able to make an informed decision and lower the risks to your company. Finding a reliable registrar is essential in the registration process for domains. The company offers a broad range of domain zones and offers efficient tools to manage your domains, which allows you to concentrate on advancing your website without concerns. If you pay attention to the smallest details and ensure that you are aware of any problems with reputation and ensure steady growth for your website.
