Does Google Look At Whois Data?

[Vendot]

Sure, I know you can opt for a privacy whois but the point is...... if you show your details in the whois and have loads of sites with the same name and address etc. Does Google use that data to help moderate your listings? In other words, it might say okay on this search term we have six sites on the first page, all from the same person - so let us penalise a few of them....

Maybe this is a stupid question. If they dont do it yet, surely they eventually will?

Any views appreciated....

[2intense]

No.___________________

[Socks]

I truly don't think google cares how many sites you have, as long as they're all useful, relevant and have their own content.

[u-Bob]

yes. .

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by Vendot

If they dont do it yet, surely they eventually will?

why else would they be paying thousands of dollars each year for mass access to whois data?

[woj]

Imagine you are ranking stuff manually and just think what you would do if you knew all 5 sites were owned by the same person...

[cooldude7]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

why else would they be paying thousands of dollars each year for mass access to whois data?

they are not paying anybody for whois data, to test this , i created 2 domains .,

1. company name .com its whois contails fake address but valid
2. whoisprotectors.com its whois contains fake address but valid

and all my other domains contains whois protectots detials., such as
whois protected and company address.

just like

Registrant Contact:
WhoisGuard
WhoisGuard Protected ()

Fax:
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #110 - 732
Westchester, CA 90045
US

and i changed all domain whois contact email to.,

convert domain name > base 64 = some value

[email protected]

and then redirect them to some one single email ..
and i havent received a single request from google asking for whois details of specific domains.

[cooldude7]

but they do look at whois data , if whois isnt protected.,

and no, they dont penalise site only on basis of whois data ., their are shitload of other factors also.

[DaddyHalbucks]

Google has been a registrar since 2005.

I am sure they look at all data that they can access. Can I repeat that?

I am sure they look at all data that they can access.

[cooldude7]

Originally Posted by DaddyHalbucks

Google has been a registrar since 2005.

I am sure they look at all data that they can access. Can I repeat that?

I am sure they look at all data that they can access.

every registrar has its own whois privacy database and no one outsider get access to it. unless u registered ur domain with google.

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by cooldude7

they are not paying anybody for whois data

they are paying to be an ICANN accredited registrar.

Originally Posted by cooldude7

...
and i havent received a single request from google asking for whois details of specific domains.

never said they were doing anything like that...

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by cooldude7

every registrar has its own whois privacy database and no one outsider get access to it. unless u registered ur domain with google.

no one ever said they have access to the date behind the whoisprivacy, but they are paying to be an ICANN accredited registrar to have easier xs to the public whois data.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

yes. .

Yes. I've been saying this for a few years now and people always resist this as the truth.

Originally Posted by u-Bob

why else would they be paying thousands of dollars each year for mass access to whois data?

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by Vendot

If they dont do it yet, surely they eventually will?

that's exactly what SEO is
all about: controlling the information that is out there, avoiding 'unnatural patterns' and thinking ahead about what Google could use in the future to find paterns.

[fris]

one of many factors they use for ranking.

[redwhiteandblue]

Do you honestly think Google wouldn't use every last bit of data they can lay their hands on to build a profile of the webmaster behind each site?

[cooldude7]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

they are paying to be an ICANN accredited registrar.



never said they were doing anything like that...

c'mon everybody knows , every registrar has access to those., but the main question is regarding private whois/fake whois.

[marlboroack]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

that's exactly what SEO is
all about: controlling the information that is out there, avoiding 'unnatural patterns' and thinking ahead about what Google could use in the future to find paterns.

Read the above quote, he has made his point

[cooldude7]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

no one ever said they have access to the date behind the whoisprivacy, but they are paying to be an ICANN accredited registrar to have easier xs to the public whois data.

okie, now i got it., u guys are talking about visible whois data and not protected...,.,. nvm.my bad.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by cooldude7

and no, they dont penalise site only on basis of whois data ., their are shitload of other factors also.

Nobody here said they only looked at whois data

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by redwhiteandblue

Do you honestly think Google wouldn't use every last bit of data they can lay their hands on to build a profile of the webmaster behind each site?

Precicely

Google Webmaster tools

Google analytics

Google Gmail

Google Youtube

etc. , etc.

[Vendot]

Well everyone already knew Google looks at the age of domains as older domains do tend to rank better and so its reasonable to assume that its one element of the data they collect from whois.

What you guys are basically saying, however, is a strong case for the use of whois privacy.

Im wondering whether whois privacy should be widely used. I have a feeling at some time in the future, its probably not going to be allowed. It just takes one "major" case of domain abuse for someone to come up with new rules.

[VIXEN ESCORTS]

So what ? You can over analyze what Google does and the decisions it makes. If I was a bot I'd be wondering why that domain had whois privacy ?

[InfoGuy]

Originally Posted by Vendot

Im wondering whether whois privacy should be widely used. I have a feeling at some time in the future, its probably not going to be allowed. It just takes one "major" case of domain abuse for someone to come up with new rules.

If you want a good reason to NOT use WHOIS privacy, read about RegisterFly.

[Vendot]

Originally Posted by UKVixens

So what ? You can over analyze what Google does and the decisions it makes. If I was a bot I'd be wondering why that domain had whois privacy ?

So basically you are saying its better to have whois privacy because this way you can keep them wondering.

Im not at all concerned about bots "wondering" - rather, im concerned about receiving a penalty on multiple sites which target the same keywords or niche areas of interest. If google sees the top 5 positions occupied by a bunch of domains all of which are registered to the same person, I cant see it coming to a conclusion that favours the registrant of those domains.

What I am more certain about is that any decision it makes is more likely to be negative than positive, because it certainly wont reward the registrant for gaming their system.

[DangerX !!!]

Of course they do. Do not forget that if you have dedicated hosting and dedicated IP addresses then your IP addresses also have got cough cough your whois info. So nom nom privacy. Kiss you cross domain SEO ass goodbye.

But what do I know, I'm just a noob because my registration date here is Febuary 2011 and you are cough cough web professionals.
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This is sig area!
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[DangerX !!!]

I mean you concentrate on domain Whois while your fucking dedicated IP addresses have your unprotected Whois data.

Unless you are using some small shared accounts.
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This is sig area!
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[VIXEN ESCORTS]

Originally Posted by Vendot

So basically you are saying its better to have whois privacy because this way you can keep them wondering.

NO I'm saying exactly the opposite !! Try hiding things and people get suspicious. If there's a Google bot that see's..... 50,000 domains all with the same whois protection, what do you think that Googlebot might make of that ?

[Vendot]

Originally Posted by UKVixens

NO I'm saying exactly the opposite !! Try hiding things and people get suspicious. If there's a Google bot that see's..... 50,000 domains all with the same whois protection, what do you think that Googlebot might make of that ?

Yes but if the bot is "wondering" about why, or "suspicious" as to what the motive is, I dont see how that hurts me?

I dont care about what Googlebot makes of it, just so long as I dont receive a penalty. I cant see how Googlebot can possibly penalise domains for having whois privacy. At least, it doesnt appear to, that is for sure.

[d-null]

Originally Posted by Vendot

Yes but if the bot is "wondering" about why, or "suspicious" as to what the motive is, I dont see how that hurts me?

I dont care about what Googlebot makes of it, just so long as I dont receive a penalty. I cant see how Googlebot can possibly penalise domains for having whois privacy. At least, it doesnt appear to, that is for sure.

I agree with you, but I think they might use whois data to analyze the links between sites, and if all of your authority backlinks have the same whois they might penalize or take away the juice from those links

[Vendot]

Originally Posted by d-null

I agree with you, but I think they might use whois data to analyze the links between sites, and if all of your authority backlinks have the same whois they might penalize or take away the juice from those links

Oh wait a minute....... im not talking about any form of cross linking. I definitely wouldnt send PR juice from the other sites to any of the others.

Youd have to engage in a form of subterfuge as a matter of principle - keep every site individual, with unique content and no linking from one site to any of the other sites which you own.

[VIXEN ESCORTS]

Originally Posted by Vendot

I dont care about what Googlebot makes of it, just so long as I dont receive a penalty. I cant see how Googlebot can possibly penalise domains for having whois privacy. At least, it doesnt appear to, that is for sure.

I have no inside info but I would think it's pretty logical that if a domain has whois privacy it is "more likely" to have a negative impact in Google if for no other reason than there are a fixed number of privacy protection options available and so your whois info would be exactly the same as 1000's of other domains. I try to treat Google as a person and I always question why a particular domain has privacy protection through a registrar.

[Agent 488]

that whois information / whois privacy is used to judge site quality / identify link farms is mentioned in google patents and has been mentioned by matt cutts. it is a factor in the google algo.

they are also a registrar and have all the information as well.

all of this can be found easily by googling, no need for speculation.

[RyuLion]

Yes...........

[Vendot]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

that whois information / whois privacy is used to judge site quality / identify link farms is mentioned in google patents and has been mentioned by matt cutts. it is a factor in the google algo.

they are also a registrar and have all the information as well.

Well being a registrar does not give them access to privacy protected whois data.

Secondly, there are plenty of legitimate reasons why people use whois privacy. I cannot see a logical reason why google would penalise a site for having whois privacy. If they do, im sure it is a very, very small part of their algo strategy and the benefits as I see it, still outweigh the disadvantages from a data sharing stand point. Take the two scenarios:

(1) 10 domains all ranking on the first page sharing the same whois data.

(2) 10 domains all ranking on the first page, with privacy protected whois.

What looks more like a spammer to them?
The answer is (1) because google can identify those domains as belonging to the same owner. In (2), on balance, it is certain that they cannot unless the owner gives that information away.

Ive googled it and I cannot find any outstanding evidence that they levy a significant penalty against a domain with privacy protected whois data. If im wrong, show me the link......

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by Vendot

Ive googled it and I cannot find any outstanding evidence that they levy a significant penalty against a domain with privacy protected whois data. If im wrong, show me the link......

You're looking at it the wrong way. Google wants to know if a site is part of a content farm. If it looks at two sites and they have the same public whois info, then they are owned by the same person, it can be 100% sure of that. If they have different public info, they are not owned by the same person, it can be 100% sure of that. If both have private whois, it doesn't tell it whether they are or are not owned by the same person so it has to dig deeper.

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by DangerX !!!

I mean you concentrate on domain Whois while your fucking dedicated IP addresses have your unprotected Whois data.

Unless you are using some small shared accounts.

With a dedicated box you should have control over your ip whois, and on anything less it's usually the hosting company's details.

[Klen]

Originally Posted by redwhiteandblue

With a dedicated box you should have control over your ip whois, and on anything less it's usually the hosting company's details.

How do you change it?

[Vendot]

Originally Posted by redwhiteandblue

If both have private whois, it doesn't tell it whether they are or are not owned by the same person so it has to dig deeper.

No, I agree with what you say, im looking at it from the same viewpoint and point you make above is exactly supportive of the point I am making...... it cannot draw a conclusion.

The only remaining option is to dig deeper and in most cases it is either not possible or very difficult to do so, afterall it is unlikely to make a decision as to ownership based on what it reads on the website itself.

[dazzling]

You can use whois privacy, but you better not be using google Chrome or they will soon get a good idea you own that domain. If your using Google chrome they will know when your registering a Domain Name, their tracking in the browser will show who you did it with and their records show all new domain registrations...they will match it all together and watch your surfing to that website and if your uploading with FTP, etc and eventually they will match you to that private domain. They may not be able to prove it, but that does not matter, all they need do is satisfy themselves it belongs to you. If your using privacy domains then NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use Google Chrome.
Do yourself a favour and get a browser that is NOT being tracked. And Never use google search either....try Scroogle in ssl or Ixquick.

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

How do you change it?

What host? On Webair it's under "IP manager". I'm not advocating everyone start using fake ip whois data btw, but if you have a business proxy address to protect your personal privacy there shouldn't be an issue with changing to that.

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by dazzling

You can use whois privacy, but you better not be using google Chrome or they will soon get a good idea you own that domain. If your using Google chrome they will know when your registering a Domain Name, their tracking in the browser will show who you did it with and their records show all new domain registrations...they will match it all together and watch your surfing to that website and if your uploading with FTP, etc and eventually they will match you to that private domain. They may not be able to prove it, but that does not matter, all they need do is satisfy themselves it belongs to you. If your using privacy domains then NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use Google Chrome.
Do yourself a favour and get a browser that is NOT being tracked. And Never use google search either....try Scroogle in ssl or Ixquick.

That would be a lot of data to correlate.

[Stephen]

It is my understanding that WHOIS data is considered in Google's algo: among other factors, sites with private registration (obfuscated ownership) are devalued in the listings, since in G's view, legitimate companies with nothing to hide, won't be hiding: A real company name and real office address would be listed... Transparency = legitimacy = better rankings.

[AdultKing]

I can't speak for google, but Pornobug pulls whois data and builds indexes of relationships between sites. It doesn't affect ranking yet, I'm not sure it will, it's more about our internal analysis.

[Relentless]

What kind of asshat algo would be 'aware of useful data that is does not use' ?
Google uses every possible data point but does not make decisions based solely on any one or two of them...

[u-Bob]

from a 5 year old blog post:

"the most talked about thing was the response Matt Cutts gave an audience member in the Interactive Site Review. A member asked for his site to be reviewed and when Matt looked over the site he questioned why he had other sites that were just parked with Ads on it."

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by Squirtit

...

Google Gmail

....

yep, try setting up a page with no inboud links. something like http://foobar.com/newdir/blah/d/f/e/...isitedpage.htm
Paste the url in an email message and email it to a gmail account.... won't take long before google bot pays the page a visit.

[Houdini]

Even if you have privacy, it's easy for them to see who registered it. Think...

You register a domain - Your name/address info goes into the whois.
Takes about 15-30 seconds to apply whois privacy - Your name/address is removed, but still in the domain's whois history.

[Bladewire]

Google indexing sites based on new Whois registrations - 2004

Google Finds Unregistered Whois Data - 2007

Don't forget that they also collect data from Gmail, Google Toolbar, Webmaster tools, Analytics & Chrome

and Google isn't the only one doing it

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by Houdini

Takes about 15-30 seconds to apply whois privacy - Your name/address is removed, but still in the domain's whois history.

that depends on the registrar... any registrar worth using will instantly put in the protected info.