How to Perform Reverse DNS Lookup and 5 Tools That Make it Easy

Finding more leads is one of the top priorities of modern businesses. So, they spend huge amounts of resources on email marketing, ads, and influencer marketing to get in front of their potential customers.

While those things can do wonders for your business, there is a lesser-known method that you can leverage to find many interesting leads. And it’s called the reverse DNS lookup.

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of reverse DNS lookup and how you can use it to grow your business.

Table of contents

• What is reverse DNS lookup?
• How does reverse DNS lookup work?
• Applications of reverse DNS lookup
• How to do a reverse DNS lookup?
• Top 5 Reverse DNS lookup tools
• Wrap up

What is reverse DNS lookup?

Reverse DNS lookup is the process of finding the domain name of an IP address. This is the exact opposite of DNS lookup, where you enter a domain name (e.g., www.google.com), and the browser finds its associated IP address.

How does reverse DNS lookup work?

A DNS pointer record (or PTR record) maps an Internet Protocol address ( or IP address) to its domain name. This record contains the list of IP addresses and their corresponding domain names, so the reverse DNS checkup tools use this record to find respective domain names.

Applications of reverse DNS lookup

Reverse DNS lookup is useful in many cases, ranging from businesses looking to get prospects to email servers trying to identify spammers. Let’s discuss them in detail.

✅ Businesses looking for prospects

Suppose you own a software product and have set up a website to promote it. If someone visits your software website, they’re probably interested in your product, right? So, tracking these visitors and getting their information can be crucial and can generate more business for your company.

✅ Email servers trying to identify potential spammers

Email clients like Gmail and Yahoo use PTR records to see if the emails are from legitimate senders or not. If the sender doesn’t have a PTR record or seems suspicious somehow, these clients will reject this sender’s email, which hurts the email deliverability.

How to do a reverse DNS lookup?

There are two main ways to do a reverse DNS lookup.

1. Windows command line

2. Reverse DNS lookup tools

Let’s discuss both in detail.

1. Windows command line

You’ve to run a simple line in the Windows command prompt. Follow these steps to do it right:

1. Press Windows key + X.

2. Then write nslookup followed by the IP address. For example, it can be nslookup 8.8.8.8.

3. Then it’ll show you the DNS name and the IP you entered.

Let’s see how to do it with reverse DNS lookup tools.

2. Reverse DNS lookup tools

Follow these steps to do reverse DNS lookup with online tools:

1. Go to any of the tools listed below.

2. Enter the IP address in the search box and search.

Now it’ll show you the DNS name of that IP. It’s that simple!

Top 5 Reverse DNS lookup tools

There are many reverse DNS lookup tools available online. But here’s a list of some of the best reverse ones we have found that’ll make your job easier:

1. Spyse

Spyse scans the web and stores the data IP addresses and their corresponding domain names in its servers. So you’ll find the results instantly while you might see some lag in other tools.

Follow these steps to a reverse DNS lookup:

1. Go to Spyse.

2. Type the IP address in the search bar.

3. Click Search.

You’ll see the domain name along with its host country.

2. Mxtoolbox

Mxtoolbox offers a range of tools to help you with your email marketing, and one of the tools includes a reverse DNS checker.

Follow these steps to a reverse DNS lookup:

1. Go to Mxtoolbox.

2. Type the IP address in the search bar.

3. Click Reverse Lookup.

You’ll see the domain name and additional information like Time To Live (TTL) period, blacklist, DNS propagation, subnet tool.

3. Whatismyip

Whatismyip is a popular tool to know your public IP address. It’s a fairly simple tool and doesn’t provide any additional information apart from the DNS name of the IP you entered.

Follow these steps to a reverse DNS lookup:

1. Go to Whatismyip.

2. Type the IP address in the search bar.

3. Click Lookup.

You’ll see the hostname along with the IP address you entered.

4. DNS queries

DNSqueries is also similar to Whatismyip because it also just provides the hostname and nothing else. So if you’re just looking for the associated DNS name, you can try any of these two tools.

Follow these steps to a reverse DNS lookup:

1. Go to DNS queries.

2. Type the IP address in the search bar.

3. Click Run Tool.

You’ll see the hostname along with the IP address you entered.

5. Hacker target

Hacker target’s reverse DNS lookup is just like other tools but with a twist. They don’t like robots, so you can see an “I’m not a robot” verification code you’ve to pass to know the DNS name. So if you decide to use this tool, do it manually and don’t automate it, as robots can’t pass that “I’m not a robot” verification code.

Follow these steps to a reverse DNS lookup:

1. Go to Hacker Target.

2. Type the IP address in the search bar.

3. Complete the I’m not a robot CAPTCHA.

4. Click Check Reverse DNS.

You’ll see the hostname along with the IP address you entered.

Wrap up

Reverse DNS lookup is a hidden way to get in front of many potential customers, and many people don’t know about it. So you can leverage this method and get ahead of your competitors.

The next step of finding leads is lead nurturing. You’ve to provide consistent value over time, and eventually, they’ll trust you enough to pull out their credit card and do business with you. Check our guide on lead nurturing guide with email marketing to do it right.