Do you use whois privacy?

[Traveler]

I just read an article that said some things about whois privacy for your domain hurting the SEO for your site. Does anyone know or have heard anything about this and if it's true?

Do you use whois privacy on your domains for your website?

 

[JennyJ]

I use the privacy on mine because I don't want to get more spam by having my real contact information showing. I haven't seen anything about it hurting the SEO for my site.

I don't understand how privacy and SEO go together though.

 

[Catherine1]

I use it on mine but that's just because it comes with the domain registration at the registrar that I am using. I haven't seen anything about it affecting SEO so I am curious if that is true and hurting my site.

 

[Smith-K]

Since I am involved in a lot of domain flipping, I have to set it to public, so people can show interest in my list of domains

 

[david smith]

Using whois privacy for a domain is done to prevent spammers from using the contact details for carrying out the spamming activity. The domain must follow the best SEO practices to get better positioning in SERPs. Hence have whois privacy for a domain will not affect the SEO of the domain.

 

[Dean]

I use whois privacy for the domains that I have websites on but not on the ones that I sell. I use it on my websites to help cut down on spam emails and phone calls/texts.

There is supposed to be a very small ranking factor hit when whois privacy is used but it's not much so it's really not worth dealing with the spam that comes with not using it.

 

[Marcos]

I am not using whois privacy myself but I really do not understand how that would affect the SEO of a website. I think that it matter what is on the website and what you do to increase the rankings of the website link building links for the website.

 

[ulterios]

I use whois privacy for all of the domains that I am using for something. I learned the hard way years ago that the spam that you can get without it can really get crazy.

I would not recommend using whois privacy for domains that you are selling as that is a common practice among domain investors. It helps to give another chance for a possible sell.

As for the SEO benefits, Google has said that it sometimes looks at whois privacy as something is there to hide but I doubt it has much of an impact on the SEO of a site.

 

[Kania]

I use private registration on mine. I do it because it is supposed to help to get less spam if your real contact information is not there. I don't like getting spam so I use it. I do not know what else it can affect though.

 

[jpy]

I don't use it because I don't mind emails bugging me for stuff relating to the domain. Nonetheless, though, I rarely would check those emails so, actually, it's the other people having a rough time.

As for the SEO benefits, Google has said that it sometimes looks at whois privacy as something is there to hide but I doubt it has much of an impact on the SEO of a site.

That shouldn't be a ranking factor. I mean, Google is getting way too bossy and nosy. They're worse than the health police. Bottom line, what websites do isn't any of their business, to some extent.

 

[sam.hunt0710]

Yes , all my domains have whois privacy with to avoid spammers ( Website development , SEO / SMO etc etc ) .

 

[Soulwatcher]

I use privacy on my website because I do not want to get my email spammed and get a ton of calls on my cell phone 24/7. And to answer your question, I have never heard of anyone taking a SEO hit from using privacy on their website.

P.S. Privacy is a small price to paid for a piece of mind knowing your not going to be spammed to death.

 

[Tania997]

Something like whois privacy is just necessary on your domain or you'll get destroyed by spam. I learned that the hard way, spammers will get your phone number too and they'll call you even in the middle of the night. The extra fee is worth every single cent,. It is of course not necessary and should be avoided if you're selling a domain because spam is a big part of that.

 

[Traveler]

Something like whois privacy is just necessary on your domain or you'll get destroyed by spam. I learned that the hard way, spammers will get your phone number too and they'll call you even in the middle of the night. The extra fee is worth every single cent,. It is of course not necessary and should be avoided if you're selling a domain because spam is a big part of that.

That was one thing that I was worried about because I have had to change my phone number because of this in the past. Not because of a domain whois information but I still did not want to have to do that again.

I don't use it because I don't mind emails bugging me for stuff relating to the domain. Nonetheless, though, I rarely would check those emails so, actually, it's the other people having a rough time.

Wouldn't that be a lot of emails to deal with though?

 

[Tania997]

That was one thing that I was worried about because I have had to change my phone number because of this in the past. Not because of a domain whois information but I still did not want to have to do that again.


Wouldn't that be a lot of emails to deal with though?

Believe me, they are terrible. You get phone call after phone call and the only thing left to do is change your number. Even if you try and use something to blacklist them, they'll use different numbers and they'll never let up. I answered their phone call once and let me tell you, the people who call you will start calling you names or tell other ugly things if you'll tell them you're not interested and they shouldn't call anymore. I don't know if they all do this, but the only time I answered it happened.

 

[Traveler]

Believe me, they are terrible. You get phone call after phone call and the only thing left to do is change your number. Even if you try and use something to blacklist them, they'll use different numbers and they'll never let up. I answered their phone call once and let me tell you, the people who call you will start calling you names or tell other ugly things if you'll tell them you're not interested and they shouldn't call anymore. I don't know if they all do this, but the only time I answered it happened.

That is insane! Calling you names just because you are not interested in whatever they are pushing is nuts.

Were these products that were related to domain and websites or something else?

I had that happen once from someone trying to sell me prescription medications. They said they had a special on "My Prescribed Medications" and I told them I didn't have any prescriptions. They got mad and said I was lying. Crazy stuff!