In general, however, parked domains have a single landing page that users see that shows them that the space is taken.

Some of these web pages will also say the domain is for sale, or it could just be a temporary ‘coming soon‘ or ‘under construction’ notification.

How Does a Parked Domain Work?

Let’s say that you’ve registered the domain name ‘example.com’ and don’t want to immediately build a website. You might not even want to use it as your own domain or homepage.

In these situations, you can set it as a parked domain so that when someone types the web address into their web browser, they’ll see a specific landing page.

These are often provided by your domain registrar or web hosting provider like Bluehost, Hostinger, or GoDaddy.

If you don’t park the domain and someone visits the site, then the browser will simply return an error.

When Would You Want to Use a Parked Domain?

There are a lot of reasons why you would want to use a parked domain. Here are some of the most common:

• Domain Reservations: Parked domains are often used by businesses and individuals who want to secure a particular domain name for future use. It’s a way to prevent others from grabbing the domain before you are ready to launch your website.
• PRO TIP: You can use a parked domain with a coming soon page to build pre-launch buzz and collect leads to build your email list early!

• Brand Protection: Companies may park multiple TLD variations of their primary domain. They will send domains like .net, .org, or .io to specific landing pages to prevent competitors from registering them. This keeps others from using a domain parking service of their own or trying to make even more money through domain flipping or cybersquatting.

• Monetization: In some cases, parked domains can be used for generating passive income. By displaying ads on the default parked page, domain owners can earn ad revenue when visitors click on them.
  

How to Set Up a Parked Domain

Setting up a parked domain is usually a straightforward process through your domain registrar or hosting provider.

You’ll typically need to access your web host’s site tools or cPanel and then find a section named something like ‘Parked Domains.’ You can then follow the host’s instructions to park your domain.

Some hosts might allow you to customize the parked page with your own company name or branding.

If not, you can use a page builder WordPress plugin like SeedProd to create one. In fact, SeedProd has special features designed just for coming soon pages and parked domains.

Other Parked Domain Considerations

While parking a domain is a pretty simple process, there are still a number of things to consider before doing so.

First, be sure that this specific domain’s DNS settings are correctly configured to point to the correct parked page. You don’t want your parked domain for a weight loss and fitness blog displaying enticing ads for a bakery website.

Second, always think about your branding. While parking a domain can be useful for future plans, often, a fully optimized landing page or single-page website can be even more powerful. Google and other search engines only rank quality content, and unfortunately, parked domains are considered thin content, which is bad for SEO.

Third, parked domains still have to be paid for. If you are a small business owner and want to reserve a URL for an upcoming site, then you still have to pay the domain registration fees for renewal. This is true even if the site stays parked on your hosting account for years before you build the site.

Using a parked domain is a strategic move that allows you to get your desired domain while you plan and prepare for the site launch.

We hope this overview has helped you understand what is a parked domain and how to use one. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Additional Reading

• How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
• How To Buy a Domain Name Anonymously (3 Easy Ways)
• Beginner’s Guide: What is a Domain Name and How Do Domains Work?
• How to Find Out Who Actually Owns a Domain Name (3 Ways)
• How to Buy a Domain Name That is Taken (9 Pro Tips)

The post Parked Domain first appeared on WPBeginner.

During domain name registration, you have to provide accurate and current information about yourself. This info is used to ensure the security and reliability of your registered domain names and websites.

Why Use a WHOIS Lookup?

You may want to search for a domain name in a WHOIS database for a number of reasons.

Some of the main ones are to verify domain ownership, find contact information, perform research and analysis, and check domain name registration and expiration dates.

Let’s take a look at these in a little more detail:

• Domain Ownership Verification. If you are buying a domain name or website, then you can use a WHOIS lookup to make sure the domain owner is who they say they are. You can also see whether a website has harmful content and legal action needs to be taken. A WHOIS search is the first step in finding who is responsible.
• Contact Information. You might simply need to get in touch with someone who owns a website for collaboration or a general question. A WHOIS lookup can reveal their contact details, including a physical address, email address, and phone number.
• Research and Analysis. Businesses often use WHOIS lookups to study competitors, understand market trends, and evaluate potential business opportunities based on domain registrations. For example, if you see the personal contact information of your main competitor attached to a new domain, then you might see a potential opportunity for your own business.
• Domain Name Registration Date. Older domains tend to be trusted more by both users and search engines. A WHOIS lookup tool can show you how long a domain name has been active to give you an idea of the website’s reliability. Depending on the industry, doing business with an international corporation that has been using a registered domain for 15+ years may be better than one that has existed for less than a year.
• Domain Name Expiration Date. If you are interested in getting a domain name that’s close to expiring, then you can find its WHOIS information, which includes the expiration date. Domains are locked for a certain amount of time after expiration, called a grace period, and when that time is up, you can register it for yourself.

How to Do a WHOIS Lookup

Performing a WHOIS lookup is very simple. Let’s walk through the steps.

First, you just need to choose a WHOIS search tool. Many domain registrars and web hosting providers offer WHOIS lookup services.

We suggest using Domain.com’s WHOIS lookup. It’s easy to use. Simply type in the domain and press the ‘Look Up’ button.

The tool will then look for and display all the domain information it finds.

You will see things like who registered the domain name, when and where it was registered, contact details of the current owner, and more.

Important WHOIS Lookup Considerations

Because WHOIS information is stored in a public WHOIS database that anyone can access, many people use domain privacy services. These protection services usually come as part of the purchase process, but they can be added later, too.

When enabled, domain privacy replaces the owner’s contact information and WHOIS data with proxy info from the domain registrar. This prevents spammers and potential hackers from being able to target you.

Some domain registrars charge an annual fee for domain privacy, while others, like Namecheap, provide them for free for every domain.

For more information on domain privacy and security, take a look at our guide on how to buy a domain name anonymously.

Also, it should be noted that not all WHOIS data is up-to-date. While it is technically required by ICANN, not every current owner keeps their contact information accurate.

We hope this article helped you learn more about WHOIS lookups in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Additional Reading

• How to Find Out Who Actually Owns a Domain Name
• Beginner’s Guide: What is a Domain Name and How Do Domains Work?
• What’s the Difference Between Domain Name and Web Hosting (Explained)
• What is: Domain Name

The post WHOIS Lookup first appeared on WPBeginner.

You will see the website title in the tab at the top of your web browser. In the search results, the title tag is the link you click to visit a search result. 

An optimized website title tag helps people identify your WordPress site in search results and can enhance your click-through rates. Plus, it can improve search engine rankings by helping Google index and rank your web pages more effectively.

What Is a Title Tag?

A website title is wrapped in HTML code <title> tags. This HTML element is your post’s SEO title and is also known as the meta title or title tag. 

The blue link that users click on in Google or other search engines is the website title set in the <title> tags:

Note that your website title or SEO title tag is not the same as your H1 post title. For more details, you can see our guide to SEO title vs. H1 post title.

Why Is the Website Title Tag Important for SEO?

A good title tag can make your website stand out in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and get more traffic to your site. If your content has a relevant and catchy title, then it’s more likely to show up in search results.

That’s important because when people search, they usually click on the websites that sound most interesting or will help them solve their problems quickly.

A website title tag also helps Google index and rank your web page’s content effectively. It tells Google what your content is about so that it can show your content to the right users based on the keywords they search for.

You can use our headline analyzer tool to make sure that your website post and page titles are irresistible to both search engines and users.

The website title is an important part of your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. You can learn more in our complete WordPress SEO guide.

Note: Keep in mind that Google may rewrite your title tag and display something different in the search results. In fact, this happens with up to 60% of all website titles.

This is more likely to happen if your title tag is different from the H1 title within your website content, so it’s a good idea to keep them the same whenever possible.

How to Change Your Website Title in WordPress

The best way to customize your website title/title tag is All in One SEO (AIOSEO), the best SEO plugin for WordPress. 

When you are making or editing a post or page, you will have an ‘AIOSEO Settings’ area below the post content. Here, you will find a section called ‘Post Title’ where you can customize the SEO title.

You will also see a preview of how the title will look in a Google search and the number of characters you used so that you don’t get cut off in the search results.

In this section, you can also customize your title using smart tags or even insert emojis into your SEO post title with just a couple of clicks.

All in One SEO also comes with an OpenAI integration that can generate different website title suggestions.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to write powerful headlines using AI.

We hope this article helped you learn more about website titles/title tags in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Additional Reading

• SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What’s the Difference?
• How to Easily Add Title Attribute to Images in WordPress
• How to Add Keywords and Meta Descriptions in WordPress
• How to Properly Use Heading Tags in WordPress (H1-H6 Explained)
• How to Use Headline Analyzer in WordPress to Improve SEO Titles

The post Website Title first appeared on WPBeginner.