PRIVATE WHOIS – 1 BIG GOOGLE RANKING FACTOR?

PRIVATE WHOIS – 1 BIG GOOGLE RANKING FACTOR?
‘Private Whois’ is also called Domain privacy (or Whois privacy) is a service offered by a number of domain name registrars. A user buys privacy from the registrar, who in turn replaces the user’s information in the WHOIS with the information of a forwarding service (for email and sometimes postal mail, it is done by a proxy server).
Below is an example of the use of ‘Private Whois’.

When you choose a domain name and register a domain, the registrar has your identifying information.
But, you can choose domain privacy protection. If you do they will hide the names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. of website contacts information you entered that would otherwise be listed in WhoIs for all the world to see.
There are lots of very legitimate reasons people want to protect their privacy online.
But when you hide the WhoIs information – using domain privacy – are there any SEO implications?
Google became a domain registrar in January 2005, and SEO professionals became instantly suspicious about how registration information might be used in the ranking algorithm.
Barry Schwartz noted the following month that a Google spokesperson made this comment to the New York Times:
“While we have no plans to register domains at this time, we believe this information can help us increase the quality of our search results.”
In 2007, industry blogger cited Matt Cutts gave this recommendation:
“Don’t hide behind domain privacy services if you don’t have a legitimate need to. There is evidence that search engines can see right through this ‘wall’ anyway and it makes your site less trustworthy to normal (albeit tech savvy) visitors/customers. Make sure the whois data matches the contact details on your site and in your privacy policy, too.”
A blogger, Loren Baker said:
“By not wanting to be spammed in your inbox, mailbox, phone box or possibly even via your XBox, are you telling search engines that your site cannot be trusted? I’m not sure this is the case.”
“Rather than any real content, most of the pages were pay-per-click (PPC) parked pages, and when I checked the whois on them, they all had “whois privacy protection service” on them.”
“Having lots of sites isn’t automatically bad, and having PPC sites isn’t automatically bad, and having whois privacy turned on isn’t automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors all together, you’re often talking about a very different type of webmaster than the fellow who just has a single site or so.”
In 2016, an SEO pro published a study on a reputable site claiming that WhoIs was a ‘trust factor’, and could prove it. He stated that the address you use in your WhoIs contact info must be in the same general region that your site serves. Activating domain privacy protection or using a mailing/physical address outside of the area your site serves would kill your rankings. Or so he claimed. True of false? Keep reading.
Then in 2019, John Mueller of Google responded to a tweet question as to whether domain privacy settings affect SEO. He was clear:
“No, feel free to use the privacy settings as you want them.”
Then again in 2021, John Mueller was again asked (this time on Reddit) whether domain privacy settings impact SEO or rankings.
His reply: “No.”
https://network-tools.com/nslookup/
Search Google for “domain name” contact
CONCLUSION: LIKELY NOT A DIRECT RANKING FACTOR
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ranking-factors/whois-information/
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-private-whois-domain-name-30495.html
https://www.shorttutorials.com/google-ranking-factors/public-vs-private-whois.html
https://www.wikihow.com/Find-Out-Who-Registered-a-Domain
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-question-do-whois-privacy-services-harm-seo/5874/
100% FREE GOOGLE PAGE RANK ANALYSIS
I want to prove my value to “Helping You Grow Your Business Stronger!” by offering a 100% Free Google SEO Pagerank Analysis. Share your homepage URL (Domain Name) and the email I should send your 100% FREE Report and within a day or two I’ll point out the Top Items on your business website that are Costing You Customers.
QUESTIONS?
If you’re ready for a F2F Zoom chat, or want to ask a quick question by email, click the appropriate link below.
Regards,
Kenneth Ervin Young, CEO
Idea To Growth LLC
Digital Marketing & Website Agency

SALES ARE OPEN FOR MY NEW BOOK!
“Angel Investors to Venture Capital –
10 Slides to Startup Funding Success –
Entrepreneurs Guide to Startup Fundraising”
Learn the 10 slides you need to create in order to have a great shot at raising venture capital from venture capitalists!
I’ll walk you, slide by slide, how to create content that will attract top venture capitalists to fund your idea, just like I raised over $100M dollars in Silicon Valley for my startups.
I cover every slide in great detail, including not just the words and content, but even font colors, fonts, font sizes, images – all the details to give you the best shot possible!