You can now see how many times someone (or something) has looked up the Whois records for your domains.
GoDaddy has added Whois lookup counts to exported lists after removing them in a previous update.
The Whois counts tell domain name owners how many times people have looked up the Whois records for their domain names. Because .com is a “thin” Whois system, GoDaddy is pinged anytime someone does a Whois lookup for a domain registered there, regardless of where the Whois search takes place.
The data are nominally useful for determining interest in your domain names. However, given that GoDaddy no longer includes personal information in Whois lookups, the numbers probably don’t have much to do with humans checking a domain because they are interested in buying it. If they are interested, they can contact you through a form on GoDaddy’s website.
Nevertheless, this is still a signal that you can use as a domain name investor to gauge interest in your domains.
Here’s how to create an exportable list and download the data.
First, log in to the domain manager. Then click the “Export” box in the menu. You’ll see this menu:
Name your report whatever you want using alphanumeric characters and no spaces. Be sure to select “all columns” under Display columns or the list won’t include the Whois counts.
GoDaddy will email you when your list is available for download.
