How to Find Out When a Domain Expires
If you own a website, you probably rent your domain name from a domain registrar. As a result, you will need to renew your web address name from time to time—specifically, when it reaches a predetermined expiration date.
However, because domain terms can last for several years, it's easy to lose track of your expiration date and forget to renew your web address altogether.
Letting your web address expire could be detrimental to your website or business, so you need to be sure to stay on top of your term and renew your address when the expiration date rolls around.
Read ahead to learn how to perform a domain name expiration check and avoid letting your web address expire.
How Long Do Domain Names Last?
When you buy expired domains names or new domain names, you can specify how long you want to own it before it expires.
Many registrars require owners to rent a domain name for at least a year, preventing people from buying and selling web addresses too quickly to make a profit.
Similarly, rental companies typically put a cap of ten years on each rental term to ensure that websites do not remain inactive on the web for over a decade.
The expiration of your domain name does not mean you lose ownership of it. Instead, your expiration date is in place to remind you to renew your domain name registration and pay for an additional term.
How to Check When a Domain Will Expire
Knowing when your domain will expire is an essential step in renewing your web address and ensuring that you can maintain ownership of it.
Even though many web address rental services send email reminders regarding your expiration date, if they have an outdated email address on file or you overlook the reminders, you could still lose access to your domain.
Thankfully, you can find domain expiration dates through two easy methods: by contacting your rental company or by performing a Whois search.
Contact Your Registrar
Perhaps the easiest way to determine when does a domain expire, is by contacting your registry.
The registry will look on your account profile and see when your term started, how many years you have prepaid, and when you will need to renew your web address. It can also give you info about your specific domain name or TLD.
Perform a Whois Lookup on Whois Expired Domains
Another quick way to check domain expiration is to search for your domain name on the Whois database.
Follow this process to search for your web address using the Whois service tools:
- Visit the Whois database tool.
- Enter your web address or IP address in the input box.
- Press the "lookup" button.
- Click on the record for your web address.
- Scroll to the bottom of the web page and view your timeline information.
You will see information about when you created the web address and when it expires. While you cannot view records for all domain names on this site, you should at least be able to view your hosting history.
Tips to Prevent Your Domain From Expiring
Unfortunately, many people let their web addresses expire accidentally, even if they know their expiration dates.
Here are a few tips to help you avoid losing access to your web address:
- Renew your web address during the grace period: Your rental host should remind you to renew your web address several days before it expires, then implement a thirty-day window in which you can renew it after it expires.
Take advantage of your registrar's leeway and renew your address as soon as you can. - Set a reminder at the beginning of your term: As soon as you purchase a web address, you should create a reminder on your phone or email for the day it will expire—even if that date is several years down the line.
This reminder will act as a safeguard in case you do not see your registrar's emails reminding you of your deadline. - Utilize your registrar's auto-renew features: You may be able to automatically renew your domain name by giving your payment information to your host to keep on file.
Setting up auto-renew will allow your host to automatically charge you when your name is about to expire, preventing you from missing an expiry deadline. - Pay for the longest term upfront: As we stated earlier, many hosts allow users to rent domain names for up to ten years before renewing them.
If you plan to keep your web address for several years, paying for a ten-year rental term at first will take the burden of renewing your name off your shoulders for a decade.
If all else fails, you may decide to purchase a new web address. Buying a new domain name could save you the time, money, and hassle of trying to recover your previous one and even make your site more visible than it was before.
Contact SpamZilla today for more information about finding the perfect web address for your business.
