What is a Private Domain?

If you’re new to domain registration, you may have heard of ‘domain privacy’, or wondered ‘what is a private domain?’. Well, both private domains/domain privacy has to do with the domain registration process; more specifically, keeping information secure. When registering a domain, one of the required components is providing your contact information. This includes your name, email address, phone number, and even your mailing address. You may wonder where this personal information ends up. All this personal information is collected by ICANN (an organization that regulates and manages domain databases), which is then publicly displayed in a directory known as the WHOIS database. This can be a huge concern to many domain owners who don’t want any of their contact information visible in public. 

So how can domain owners hide their personal contact information? Simple, consider registering a private domain! In this article, we’ll be going over private domains. Specifically, what is a private domain, and what are the benefits of private domain registration. 

What is a private domain?

The public WHOIS database makes it possible and convenient for anyone to search up domain owners’ contact information. Unfortunately, this has become a tool for spammers and scammers to create their contact lists, especially for public domain names. So considering registering for a private domain is indeed a smart choice. If you’re sitting there and wondering “what is a private domain?”, it is a premium service that protects registrants’ personal information from being out in the open in the WHOIS public database. Domain privacy’s main purpose is to prevent registrants from unnecessary scammers, marketers, and any future inconveniences that public domains may encounter. 

What are the benefits of private domain registration?

1. Hides personal information: Keeping your contact information safe and secure.

2. Gets rid of predatory activities: Prevents abuse and scam attempts through unwanted outreach.

3. Block out spam: Hidden contact information prevents your details from being added to lists without your permission.

4. Stop troublesome data mining: Cease spammers from creating mailing lists from collecting domains data.

 Should you pay for domain privacy?

In short, no you shouldn’t pay for a private domain. Domain privacy should be a service that is available for registrants but not for an extra fee. Depending on the registrar, some do charge that additional fee for domain privacy, fortunately, Dynadot already has it included for free. 

With Dynadot, you can control your privacy settings and even replace your displayed information with Dynadot’s contact info. Instead of dealing with extensive spam notifications, we can filter them out and forward legitimate messages to you. You can learn more on our domain privacy page.

Note: Not all TLDs allow domain privacy, you can look at the restricted list here.

How do I know if my domain is private?

If you’re not quite sure if your domain is private, you can look up your domain with our WHOIS lookup search. Simply search for your domain name and if your contact information is replaced with the information provided by your registrar, you have domain privacy activated. Alternatively, you can review your domain privacy settings from your account control panel under your Dynadot account. For more information on registering a private domain, check out our domain privacy help page here.