Google Gets Whois Answers In Search Results

Apr 18, 2008 at 6:26pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Looks like Google’s gained a new direct answer service, whois information for domains. Enter a query like whois searchengineland.com, and you’ll be told when the domain was registered and expires, along with a link to more information from the Domain Tools site. Here’s a screenshot:

Google’s not done a formal announcement, but Matt Cutts just noted it on his blog here.

As Google Operating System notes, back in 2004 Google rolled out a somewhat similar service that was quickly ended after Network Solutions blocked Google’s requests.

Postscript: Note, some people aren’t seeing this feature. It might still be buggy, while there also seems to be some availability issues, too.

Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series, maintains a personal blog called Daggle and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan.

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