Who Owns a URL? How to Check Domain Ownership (and Spot Risks)

Ever come across a website and wondered who’s really behind it? Whether you’re checking for fraud, vetting a new supplier, or just curious, finding out who owns a URL can tell you a lot about the trustworthiness of a website.

In this article, we’ll show you how to look up who owns a domain name — and why simply knowing the owner isn’t always enough. We’ll also explain how tools like ASSESS take URL checks further by flagging suspicious domains and giving you a clearer picture of online risk.

How to Check Who Owns a URL

There are a few straightforward ways to find out who owns a website domain:

1. WHOIS Lookup Tools – These services pull public registration data about the domain.
2. Domain Registrars – You can check ownership through popular registrars like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
3. ICANN Lookup – The official domain authority also provides ownership information.

• The registrar’s name
• Registration and expiry dates
• Sometimes the organisation or individual who registered the domain

Why URL Trust Matters

For marketers, data brokers, and anyone sending emails or processing transactions, a suspicious domain can damage your deliverability, reputation, and security. Knowing who owns a URL is the first step — but assessing its risk level is what keeps your business safe.

The Limitations of Manual URL Lookups

WHOIS results aren’t always reliable. Many domain owners use privacy services to hide their details. Even when ownership is visible, it doesn’t tell you if the website is safe. For example:

• Fraudsters can register domains with valid details.
• Brand-new domains may look legitimate but could be used for phishing.
• Disposable domains are often used for spam and fraud.

Smarter URL Checks with ASSESS

ASSESS is Email Hippo’s risk assessment tool. Instead of relying only on WHOIS data, it checks multiple signals to give you a trust score for both email addresses and URLs.

With ASSESS, you can:

• Identify risky or suspicious URLs instantly
• Spot patterns that manual checks miss
• Combine email and URL verification in one automated tool
• Reduce fraud and improve data quality across your systems
  
  

Example use case: If a new customer signs up with an email address from a freshly registered domain, ASSESS can flag it as high risk — even if WHOIS shows legitimate registration.

From Ownership to Trust: The Full Picture

Finding out who owns a URL is useful, but it only scratches the surface. Ownership data alone can’t tell you whether a domain is safe, reliable, or high risk. That’s where  ASSESS changes the game.

By combining checks like syntax, DNS, block-list monitoring, disposable detection, domain age, and IP reputation into the Hippo Trust Score, ASSESS gives you an instant, reliable view of domain trustworthiness. Instead of piecing together technical data yourself, you get a clear, actionable score that supports faster, smarter decisions.

Don’t just check who owns a URL — assess whether you can trust it.

Discover ASSESS →