Key highlights
- Discover 5 proven methods to learn how to find who owns a website.
- Use WHOIS lookup to access domain registration details quickly.
- Check site credits, website footer, and source code for ownership clues.
- Leverage search engines, social media, and online tools to trace a site owner.
- Contact domain brokers when you want to buy a taken domain name.
When someone wants to create a website, they have to register the domain name. They’re reserving the address (or URL) on the internet for a certain period. When they register a domain, they’re added to the domain registration history.
If you want to learn how to find who owns a website or even how to tell who built a website, there are plenty of online tools and resources to help you out.
Keep reading to find out:
- How to find the owner of a website
- How to look up the domain registration history of a website
- How to check who made a website
Why you might want to find the owner of a website?
Wanting to purchase a domain is the most common reason for learning how to find who owns a website. For instance, if you’re starting a new website and run a URL availability search or a Bluehost domain search, you may realize the domain you want is already taken.
In that case, you can try to how to see who created a website or review the domain registration details to contact the site owner directly and see if they’re open to selling.
There are a few other reasons you might want to find out who built a website. Perhaps you wish to contact the website owner for another reason, such as having a question about their content or design or even the web developer listed in the website footer.
And finally, you might want to know who created a website if you believe that the content or the business is questionable. In this case, using a WHOIS lookup or other online tools can point you in the right direction
Whatever reason you choose, there are several strategies you can use to look up a website’s owner or domain registration history.
Also read: WHOIS Domain Lookup
Are the domain owner and the website owner the same?
In most situations, the domain owner and the website owner are the same. But technically, that doesn’t have to be the case. So, who is the owner of a domain?
A business website is a great example. A company may be owned by a partnership or corporation, but the domain registration details are often tied to one individual.
When a domain is registered, it will have several contacts listed for it. These are Registrant, Admin, Technical and Billing. The Registrant contact is the legal site owner of the domain.
If you hired an agency to design a website, a web developer or someone on its staff might have registered the domain. If it’s not under your contact information, you wouldn’t be the website’s legal owner, even though it’s your site.
And finally, sometimes, domain registration services retain ownership of your domain. If they charge you for managing your domain, such as updating MX or A records, then that’s a good sign that you don’t legally own your domain.
The good news is that once you find out who built a website or identify the domain owner through WHOIS records or online tools, you can usually connect the dots to the website’s owner as well.
Now, let’s look at five proven ways for how to find who owns a website.
How to find the owner of a website?
- Search the website
- Check domain registration history
- Contact a domain brokerage
- Use search engines or social media
- Find an email associated with the domain
- Searching the Website
Search the website
If you want to know how to find who owns a website, the first step is to start with the site itself. The web page can often be a useful source of creator information.
If the domain has been registered but the site is not live yet, skip to step two and check the domain registration history.
However, if there is a business website, here are some places to look to how to see who created a website or identify the site owner:
- Contact us page
- About page
- Website footer
- Privacy policy
However, if the owner directly doesn’t list any contact details on the Contact Us or About page, there are a couple of other places you can check.
However, if the owner directly doesn’t list any contact information on the contact us or about page, there are a couple of other places you can look.
First, scroll down to the website footer. This is where you can check site credits, find out who owns the copyright and sometimes even see which agency or web developer designed a website. Either of these can point you in the right direction toward the website owner.
Finally, you can review the privacy policy page. If a website collects user data, it’s legally required to include a privacy policy. This section often contains an email address, company name or physical address linked to the site owner or business owner.
How does the privacy policy page help you?
The privacy policy needs to include contact information for privacy issues. It often includes the email address or physical address of the individual who owns the website’s data.
If you still can’t find contact information, try viewing the website’s source code or running a quick search with online tools. These methods often reveal hidden details that can help you find out who made a website.
Also read: How to Find Out Who Made a Website
Domain registration history
Unfortunately, doing an availability search such as a WordPress domain search or Instant Domain Search can only tell you if a domain name is taken or not. It won’t tell you how to find out who built a website or the current domain owner.
To identify the site owner, you’ll need to search the domain registration details, also called domain registration history.
Domain registration history is also known as WHOIS history because it collects all WHOIS records associated with a domain, starting with the first registration.
Think about domain registration history as the old way of keeping library book records. Each book contained a list of all the people who had checked it out before. It’s similar for domain names, except everything is online.
Domain name registration and ownership are managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). As part of ICANN domain registration, it requires the creation of WHOIS records, which identify domain owners and provide their contact information.
The good news is that WHOIS lookup tools make this information publicly available. ICANN legally requires that this contact information is shared. So, performing a quick WHOIS domain lookup is quite simple.
To find out who made a website using domain registration history, you’ll need to:
- Go to https://whois.icann.org/
- Enter the domain name you’re searching for
- Click Lookup
If the domain is registered, then you’ll find the contact information there.
The domain ownership history will help you identify the right contact for questions about the domain or website.
However, some domain providers offer privacy protection. This means that the domain provider is listed as the registrant so that the individual owner can maintain some level of anonymity.
If there’s no contact email or phone number listed, it usually means the website owner has enabled private registration. In that case, you may need to check other sources like the website footer, source code or use online tools to move in the right direction.
You can also find out when the domain is set to expire. If the domain registrant doesn’t have automatic renewal, there’s a chance the domain will be available after the expiration date passes.
Doing an expired domain search helps you find newly available domain names.
Check with a domain broker
If your domain registration details or WHOIS search didn’t yield any results, you might be able to get information from a domain broker. Domain brokers are individuals that facilitate sales of a domain name.
Some brokers work on behalf of domain buyers and their services include helping to find out who owns a website or contacting the domain owner as part of the buying and selling process. But domain brokers usually charge fees for these services.
We only recommend using a broker if you’re serious about acquiring the domain, since their main role is to connect you directly with the site owner or the business owner behind it.
You can use a list of brokers to find the right one for you.
Also read: How to Find Out Who Built a Website
Search engines and social media
Another place to find information is through a bit of online detective work. If a business website looks interesting, you can research employees on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to try and find out who made a website.
To identify the domain owner or site owner, look for someone in the IT or marketing department. These individuals are often directly involved in web development and managing the site.
If you want to search for a specific job title on LinkedIn, you can use the advanced search filters. First, search for the business page and then click See all employees on the header section.
Then, you can click on All Filters on the search results page.
In the field labeled “Title,” try departmental keywords like marketing or IT. You can also search for job-specific roles such as webmaster, administrator or web developer to help find out who created a website.
Finding the right person might take some trial and error.
Once you do, you can contact them directly via LinkedIn or another social channel. Otherwise, use search engines or online tools to see if their creator information or contact details are listed on the web page itself.
Finding an email associated with the domain
When domain registration history and search engines or social media don’t help, you can use the domain itself to look for a contact email. When someone registers a domain, they’re also able to create email addresses with that domain name.
For example, instead of [johndoe]@[gmail].[com], you can have [johndoe]@[bluehost].[com].
If the domain owner or site owner used the domain to create a contact email, you can track it down using online tools.
Hunter.io is a sales prospecting tool that helps find contact information based on a website’s URL. Simply enter the domain you’re searching for and it’ll provide a list of associated emails.
Services like Hunter.io guess the email address format and then send an email to see if it bounces back.
Hunter gives you a limited number of free searches, but you may have to create an account.
This approach works best for a business website, where the web developer or development team might have listed emails for creator information or support.
If you can find an email address, you now have someone you can contact directly to find out who built a website or confirm the domain registration details.
Final thoughts
There are several reasons you might want to find out who built a website or identify the site owner. The good news is that domain registration history is a public record available on the internet.
However, domain providers have recognized that some of their customers want to remain private or anonymous. So, figuring out how to find who owns a website isn’t always straightforward.
With a little detective work like checking the website footer, reviewing the website’s source code or running a WHOIS lookup you should be able to uncover the domain registration details or at least find a contact who can point you in the right direction.
Keep in mind, just because you find out who made a website doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy the domain. It’s always smart to brainstorm multiple domain name ideas for your business website.
To learn more about building and managing a website and to get a free domain for one year check out Bluehost hosting plans.
FAQs
The WHOIS database is a public directory that stores domain registration details, including the domain owner’s name, contact information and registration dates. It’s one of the quickest ways to start if you want to find out who built a website, check website’s code or confirm the full URL of the domain owner.
To use a WHOIS lookup, simply enter the full URL or domain name into a WHOIS search tool. The tool will return WHOIS records that may show the site owner, their email and other registration details. This is often combined with a website check site credits step when learning how to find who owns a website.
WHOIS data is generally reliable because domain registrars must collect accurate owner information. However, some owners use privacy protection, meaning their details won’t be visible. In such cases, you may need to explore the website’s code, check designers listed in the footer or even look at WordPress websites where ownership details are often displayed in themes or templates.
You can protect your privacy by enabling WHOIS privacy protection through your registrar. This replaces your personal details with the registrar’s contact information. While this makes it harder for others to find out who made a website, it prevents your details from being included in basic text files or completed projects lists that can sometimes be scraped from the web.
You can find out who owns a domain name by running a WHOIS lookup, checking the website’s About or Contact pages or doing a website check site credits in the footer. If those don’t work, try viewing the website’s code for developer comments or designers listed in the template. These steps often help you identify who created or designed a site, especially on WordPress websites.
Yes, in most cases the domain owner can be traced. A WHOIS lookup provides domain registration details, but if privacy protection is enabled, you may need detective work like searching company names, checking completed projects on portfolio pages or reviewing a beautifully designed website’s code and footer credits where many designers list their work.
Yes, you can. A WHOIS lookup or online tools like hosting checkers can reveal the hosting provider. While this won’t always tell you how to find out who built a website, combining hosting data with a website check site credits review or examining the basic text file structure in the website’s code can give more clues about the site owner.
If a domain uses WHOIS privacy protection, you can’t see the personal details directly. However, you can often reach the owner through a proxy email provided in the WHOIS record. Other ways include reviewing the website’s code, footer credits or looking at completed projects where designers listed their involvement. On WordPress websites, checking the full URL in the theme or template files can sometimes reveal extra ownership clues.
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