SEO tools
WHOIS Lookup: Registration, Age and Expiry for a Domain
Queries the registry over RDAP — the structured successor to classic WHOIS — and reports when the domain was registered, how old it is now, who the registrar is, and when the registration lapses.
What this WHOIS lookup returns
The query goes to RDAP rather than the legacy WHOIS text protocol. RDAP returns structured data with consistent field names, which is why the result is reliable across registries where scraped WHOIS output often is not.
- Creation date, and the age derived from it.
- Expiry date, so you can see how close the registration is to lapsing.
- The registrar currently holding the domain.
- Registry status codes, where the registry publishes them.
Domain: example.com
Registered: 1995-08-14
Expires: 2026-08-13
Registrar: Example Registrar, Inc.
Status: client transfer prohibited
Use the dates to plan renewal and investigate a recent
change of ownership. The status prevents an unauthorised
transfer; it does not describe the website's SEO health.Why domain age matters — and how much
Domain age is routinely overstated. Google has said plainly that the age of a domain is not itself a ranking factor, and a site does not rank better merely for being old. What correlates with age is everything that accumulates over time: links, brand recognition, and a track record Google has had the chance to evaluate.
Where the date is genuinely useful is as context for a diagnosis. A domain registered three months ago that is not ranking is behaving normally. The same symptom on a ten-year-old domain points at something that changed, and is worth investigating.
What WHOIS no longer shows
Registrant names, addresses, and contact details are redacted for most domains since GDPR, and privacy services mask the rest. Expect to see the registrar and the dates, not the owner. That is a change in the protocol's output, not a failure of the lookup. Use this alongside the DNS checker when you are working out who actually operates a domain — where its records point is often more revealing than its registration.
Use registration data during a migration, not as a ranking metric
Before moving a domain, record the registrar, expiry date and transfer lock, then map every old URL in a website migration URL mapping template . Registration data helps keep control of the name; the site migration SEO playbook explains how to preserve the URLs and redirects that carry search value.
- Why is the owner's name not shown?
- Registries redact personal contact data for privacy reasons, and many registrants also use a privacy service. Registrar and dates remain public; the individual behind the domain generally does not.
- Does buying an old domain give an SEO head start?
- Not by itself. You inherit whatever history the domain carries, which can be links worth having or a spam record worth avoiding. Age alone confers nothing.
Domain WHOIS, not IP WHOIS
Two different lookups share the name. This one answers questions about a registered domain name. Ownership of an IP address is a separate registry, and no domain query will return it.
| You want | This tool | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| When a domain was registered | Yes | Registry RDAP |
| When the registration expires | Yes | Registry RDAP |
| Which registrar holds it | Yes | Registry RDAP |
| Who the registrant is, by name | No | Redacted since GDPR |
| Who owns an IP address | No | RIPE, ARIN and the other RIRs |
| A .com, .net or .fr domain | Yes | — |
| A .de or .es domain | No — those registries publish no RDAP | The registry's own form |
- Why is the owner name missing?
- Registrant contact details have been redacted from public records since GDPR. Registration dates, expiry and registrar remain public, which is what most checks actually need.
- Is RDAP different from WHOIS?
- RDAP is the structured replacement the registries now serve. Same facts, returned as JSON with consistent field names instead of free text that varies by registry.
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