What is domain privacy?
Domain privacy is used to substitute your personal contact info with proxy details on the publicly available WHOIS directory. Domain privacy is automatically added to eligible domains registered with GoDaddy to protect your domain contact info.
Select a question to see its answer:
- Why do my domains need contact info?
- How is my contact info kept private?
- Is my domain eligible for domain privacy?
- Does Nominet affect my domain privacy?
- Can I choose to show my contact info?
- How can I verify domain ownership?
Why do my domains need contact info?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, requires us to gather contact information for the person or business registering a domain name, known as the registrant or domain holder. This info includes your name, phone number, address and other details, which is reported to the domain registry and shown on the publicly available WHOIS directory. Keeping your domain contact info private helps prevent unwanted spam calls and emails, and makes sure you're in control of what information is publicly available.
How is my contact info kept private?
Eligible domains registered with GoDaddy have all domain contact info automatically substituted with proxy details from our privacy service provider, Domains By Proxy®. You'll have your contact info on the domain itself, but it won't be available to the Registry, or visible on the publicly available WHOIS directory unless you choose to show your contact info. The domain still belongs to you — except now, you and Domains By Proxy® will be the only ones who know it.
Is my domain eligible for domain privacy?
Domain privacy is available on all domains registered with GoDaddy, except the domains listed below. You can still protect these domains in other ways by adding Domain Ownership Protection.
- .au
- .com.au
- .net.au
- .org.au
- .be
- .ca
- .de
- .es
- .com.es
- .nom.es
- .org.es
- .eu
- .fr
- .gg
- .in
- .co.in
- .firm.in
- .gen.in
- .ind.in
- .net.in
- .org.in
- .it
- .tk
- .us
Does Nominet affect domain privacy for my .uk domains?
If you've decided to invoke Nominet's WHOIS opt-out policy, your contact information visibility will be determined by that policy, regardless of what protection level you have through GoDaddy.
Can I choose to show my contact info?
Your contact info can be shown at any time by changing your visibility settings. Showing your contact info, even for a short time, means it can be seen and potentially used by anyone. Hiding it will remove your details from the publicly available WHOIS directory, but if someone saw it while it was shown, they could still use that info.
How can I verify domain ownership?
We recommend adding a TXT record to your DNS zone file to verify domain ownership. This is the best option to maintain your privacy while proving your domain ownership. Another option is to show your contact info, which will display all registrant contact information.
Related steps
- Protect your account even further by turning on 2-step verification.
- Make sure your underlying domain contact info is accurate and edit if needed.
More info
- Some domains aren't eligible for domain privacy, due to registry restrictions. Review the Domain Name Registration Agreement for details.
