Whoisology provide a range of services based on the supply of WHOIS data – the details of who owns , hosts and administers any registered website address (URL).

This is a mini Whoisology review – the full review will be published soon.

When registering a domain name, or URL, it is a requirement of ICANN – the not for profit organisation that manages such things – that certain ownership related data should always be provided and kept up to date.

Many people use this data for a variety of purposes from marketing through to law enforcement, copyright infringement and so on.

In small quantities it is possible to obtain everything you need for free from a number of providers of which Whoisology is one.

Whoisology have a monstrous database of whois data

But what if you need to know more? or if you need more in-depth data? If these questions apply to you then some of the paid-for services offered by Whoisology may be of interest to you.

Whoisology operates a domain name ownership archive which has billions of searchable, cross referenced domain name records containing whois information. This database is regularly updated.

The main emphasis is on the provision of “reverse whois” which is a technology that is used mainly for cyber crime investigation, InfoSec, corporate intelligence, legal research, business development, marketing and, as Whoisology themselves put it “good ol’ fashioned poking around”.

The company has, quite rightly, identified that sifting through high volumes of whois data is hard work and worked out how to make massive amounts of legally mandated public data easier to manage. Domain name related whois data has always been freely and publically available but now, thanks to Whoisology,  it’s much easier to use.

If you just want to look up the ownership of a single site then it may be worth your while downloading the free Whoisology Chrome extension. Then just visit the site(s) you want to research and click the Whoisology icon – away you go, basic whois data delivered in an instant!

If you are doing more detailed and large scale research however, one of the Whoisology premium plans may be a better fit. They give you access to a wider range of search and research tools for use with their massive whois database.

There is a completely free account on offer, with some restictions that would not be a problem for the occasional user. If you want to get more serious however, paid plans start at $30 per month or $300 per year and if you exceed the allocated number of searches or reports then additional credits may be purchased on an ad-hoc basis.

This service has a lot going for it and for those marketers who want really in-depth information about their competitors – it’s a must!