Your website’s most valuable asset is its domain name. Lose control of it, and your website goes dark, taking your business, emails, and online presence with it. Potentially worse, your website might get hijacked by someone else who can destroy your company and your reputation. By being aware, managing your registration, and staying alert to scams, you can safeguard your domain from expiration, theft, and costly recovery.
Here are five tips to protect your domain registration that you can take today.
- Check your domain expiration date
- Document who your registrar is
- Confirm Your Registrar Login Information
- Enable Auto-Renew and Update Your Payment Info
- Use a Secure External Email for Registrar Communication
Plus, we have a bonus tip for you.
- Watch Out for Domain Renewal Scams
Check Your Domain Expiration Date
One of our clients lost track of their domain’s expiration date. To make matters worse, they couldn’t remember who the registrar was. Unfortunately, this came to light when their website went dark because the domain expired.
The first action to protect your domain registration is to keep track of when the domain expires. Most people don’t realize that domain names aren’t really bought as much as they are rented or leased for a period of time. When you first “bought” your domain name, you chose a term — usually 2 to 10 years.
As with our client, many business owners forget when their domain name expires and where they registered it. The good news is that you can get all the information you need quickly and for free. An organization called ICANN is the definitive source of domain name registrations. When you buy a domain name at GoDaddy, Register.com, or any other registrar, the ICANN database is checked to ensure it is available. If it is, and you then “Buy” the domain name, your purchase and registration information is updated at ICANN.
You can visit the ICANN Domain Name Registration Lookup tool if you don’t recall where you bought the domain or when it expires. Just enter your domain name and click LOOKUP. Read through the resulting information to find your expiration date under the Domain Information heading.
DO THIS: Record the information and set a reminder in your calendar a few weeks or months before the next renewal date. When the reminder pops up, renew immediately.
Verify Your Domain Registrar
You need to know where you registered your domain, AKA your registrar. Verifying (or confirming) it on the ICANN Lookup website is easy. Once you look up your domain name, scroll down to the Registrar Information section, where you will find the registrar’s name and contact information.
DO THIS: Save your registrar information somewhere you will easily find it. Plus, add the registration renewal link to your calendar (see prior tip).
Confirm Your Registrar Login Information
Now that you know which registrar handles your domain, go to their website and log into your account. If you have forgotten your username or password, work with the registrar to recover one or both. (They will always have a username and password recovery link on their login page.) Once you log into your account, review and update your profile information.
Now is the perfect time to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) for your account. A 2FA adds an extra level of security to your domain registration by requiring a second step to log in. Even if your username and password are compromised, no one can access your account without completing the 2FA step. The instructions for setting up 2FA are different at every registrar, but they’re usually under your Profile on the registrar’s website.
DO THIS: Record your login credentials and enable 2FA.
Enable Auto-Renew and Update Your Payment Info
Enabling auto-renewal is another easy action that protects your domain registration. It is part of a good defense against domain registration expiration. Most registrars will send emails before your domain automatically renews, allowing you to double-check that your payment information is correct.
As part of setting up auto-renewal, take a few more minutes to confirm or change your payment information. If your renewal date is two years from now, but your credit card expires in one year, your domain will not renew in two years, and your registration will expire.
Also, you can always add time to your registration by renewing early. You can add 1, 2, 5, or even 10 years to your registration right now, and then you won’t have to worry about your domain expiring any time soon.
Remember to put your renewal information into your calendar (as mentioned above) so you know when to update your payment information.
DO THIS: Enable auto-renewal and double-check payment information for accuracy.
Use a Secure External Email for Registrar Communication
The final tip to protect your domain registration is to check and change (if necessary) the contact email address used by your registrar to reach you. Many domain registration companies offer domain-specific email addresses for customers to use with their websites.
When setting up your registrar profile, using an email address at your domain is tempting. For example, say your domain name is mygreatcompany.com. You might have created an email address for [email protected] or anything else on your domain. It might seem sensible and convenient to do this.
However, there’s a very good and crucial reason not to use an email address at your domain as the login email address for your registrar:
When your domain name expires, not only your website but also your email will go down. If your email isn’t working, you may not be able to pass your 2FA step or reset your password.
DO THIS: Review your registrar account profile and update your contact email with a public address like Outlook365.com or Gmail.com.
Watch Out for Domain Renewal Scams
If you’ve done all of the above, there is still a chance that you could lose your domain name. So here’s a bonus tip for you.
Scammers use social engineering tactics to gain control of domain names or credit card information. Recently, another client contacted us after receiving an email saying their domain was due to expire the next day. They were concerned because they thought it had recently been renewed – and it had. When we had them examine the email more carefully, they saw the sender was unrelated to their registrar. In other words, even though the email claimed it was from GoDaddy, it was sent from a Hotmail account (something like [email protected]). They had just received a phishing email.
Common scams include:
- Fake Domain Renewal Notices (Phishing)
- Domain Slamming (Unauthorized or Deceptive Transfers)
- SEO Optimization or Domain Listing Service Offers
- Fake Trademark or Copyright Notices
- Expired Domain Hijacking (Domain Sniping)
- Fake Website Shutdown or Legal Action Threats
- Typosquatting and Fake Login Pages (Phishing)
Protect yourself from potential scams by taking the following actions:
- Verify the authenticity of emails about your domain by checking the sender’s email address and renewal link. (i.e., GoDaddy would never send you an email from Hotmail and ask you to renew by clicking a link at mysneakygodaddyclone.com.)
- Never enter credit card details on unfamiliar websites. In fact, don’t even try to log into one.
- If you have any doubts at all, do NOT click the link provided in a suspicious-looking domain registration email. Instead, open a new browser window and manually type in your registrar’s name (i.e., godaddy.com, register.com, etc).
| Scam Type | How It Works | Red Flags | How to Avoid It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fake Domain Renewal Notices (Phishing) | Scammers send fake renewal emails with fraudulent links to steal payment info. | Email from unknown sender, urgent language, links to unfamiliar websites. | Always log in to your registrar directly instead of clicking email links. |
| Domain Slamming (Unauthorized Transfers) | Companies send misleading notices to trick you into transferring your domain. | Official-looking letter/email from an unfamiliar registrar, fine print about domain transfers. | Ignore unauthorized transfer notices, only renew through your actual registrar. |
| SEO Listing or Domain Listing Scams | Fake invoices claim to offer ‘SEO optimization’ or ‘domain listing’ services. | Unsolicited invoice, claims of mandatory SEO payments, promises of guaranteed rankings. | SEO and domain listings are not mandatory—ignore these invoices. |
| Fake Trademark or Copyright Notices | Scammers claim someone is trying to register a domain similar to yours, pressuring you to pay for protection. | Claims of urgent trademark issues, pressure to buy extra domain extensions. | Check with a legal expert if you receive suspicious trademark claims. |
| Expired Domain Hijacking (Domain Sniping) | When a domain expires, someone else registers it and demands an inflated price to return it. | Someone offering to sell your expired domain back at a high price, domain listed for spam. | Enable auto-renewal and keep payment details updated. |
| Fake ‘Website Shutdown’ or ‘Legal Action’ Threats | Fraudsters claim your website is violating legal regulations and demand immediate payment. | Threat of immediate website suspension, request for Bitcoin/gift card payments, vague legal language. | Verify legal notices with your web host or legal counsel before taking action. |
| Typosquatting and Fake Login Pages | Scammers create fake login pages for registrars by using lookalike domain names. | Website URL has slight typos or extra characters, asks for login credentials. | Manually enter your registrar’s URL into the browser instead of clicking unknown links. |
Table of Common Domain Scam Types, Red Flags, and Other Information
Take Action to Protect Your Domain Registration Today
It is easy to lose track of when your domain registration expires, who the registrar is, and when your payment information needs to be updated. If you let your domain expire, you may have to work hard to get it back up and running — and there’s no guarantee you will be successful. During this time, your online presence and electronic communications will be disrupted. We encourage you to take action now to protect your domain registration.
If we can help with domain or any other website development and management issues, please call us at 818-592-6370 or use our online contact form. We look forward to making your website unforgettable.
