Exploring GoDaddy’s Partner API Strategy

Although partner APIs are an important aspect of the overall digital economy, they aren’t covered too often. Yet, Postman’s 2024 State of the API report found that 26% of APIs are partner-facing — much higher than 18% for public APIs. Behind the scenes, partner APIs often power reseller or affiliate programs, help expand a company’s data ecosystem, and unify co-creation and collaboration.

One example of this is the GoDaddy APIs. For those unaware, GoDaddy provides domain name registration, web hosting, and, more recently, web-builder functionality. To many consumers in the US, GoDaddy is synonymous with funny Superbowl halftime slot ads. But much like the nerds featured in these commercials, GoDaddy’s backend has some nerdy tech as well.

GoDaddy has a collection of developer and user-facing APIs for programmatically interfacing with their native domain-hosting platform features. And most recently, they’ve extended their Website Builder to allow vetted third-parties to integrate website-building and marketing tools into their offerings via API. But how do such API offshoots like this fit into the overall revenue strategy for a tech company?

We recently connected with Oliver Hoare, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at GoDaddy, to learn more about GoDaddy’s journey and shed light on the hidden value of partner APIs. Below, we’ll explore how APIs have driven new revenue opportunities at GoDaddy and fueled developer-facing partner programs at large.

Partnerships: Profoundly Impacted by APIs

Throughout domains like e-commerce and travel, APIs significantly shape partnerships and innovation. “Partnerships have been profoundly impacted by APIs over the past decade and more,” says Hoare, who, before GoDaddy, held roles at Avalara, Expedia, and British Airways.

APIs grant far more customization potential beyond simply dropping in a widget. “Previously, consumers and B2B partnerships were ok with standard templates,” he says. “Today, partners want their own look and feel, design, navigation, business models, and pricing.” Only with APIs do you get a high level of control over the end-user experience and unit economics.

Understanding The Value of Partner APIs

Partner APIs can unlock big business. Impressively, eBay credits its Buy API with over $1 billion in gross merchandise bought, generating 60% of its revenue through APIs.

According to Hoare, value gains work on both sides. “Partnering via API offers value to both sides of the partnership,” he says. For instance, at GoDaddy, partners can create new revenue with complementary products while reducing time and maintaining control over the customer experience, he says.

Conversely, it brings tangible business benefits to the platform provider. “For GoDaddy, we leverage the investment into our software platform to reach more customers, empowering more entrepreneurs without the customer acquisition costs,” says Hoare. “We also learn from our partners, with customer insights and product innovations that extend our platform in new ways.”

GoDaddy’s Overall API Strategy

Overall, APIs support the goals of providing partners with greater flexibility, business growth, and efficiency. “GoDaddy’s API strategy focuses on making it easy and secure for developers and partners to connect with our products and services.” Key components of this strategy include clear documentation, strong security, high performance, and easy integrations, he adds.

A big benefit is enhanced customer workflows. “APIs allow us to build fully integrated experiences with partners, working seamlessly between GoDaddy and third-party apps,” says Hoare. “GoDaddy’s API is fully integrated into the customer journey, resulting in an easy-to-use workflow for customers.”

For instance, API affiliate networks enable programmatic resale — a low-hanging fruit to monetize. “Our partners use the APIs to integrate resales of domains, SSL, and websites into their own sites,” says Hoare. “Each developer creates deeply integrated experiences that pull information about their products into the customers’ sites.”

In this case, commerce sales, as well as online appointment bookings and sales, can be surfaced on the partners’ sites, says Hoare. “Our API has the capability to allow partners to share information they know about the partner with us, such as information necessary to onboard a website. This results in streamlined experiences.”

How to Support Partner API Success

A partner API strategy isn’t easily one-and-done. Ensuring partner success requires ongoing support, sharing helpful metrics, and a strong security posture. For instance, everyone is at a different technical level, meaning partners may require different levels of assistance than others.

Going The Extra Mile

Beyond providing self-service API-accessible functionality to resell websites and domain capabilities, GoDaddy offers more hands-on support to support the partner process. “For websites, we also provide white glove support during partner integration, ensuring developers are supported every step of the way,” says Hoare.

Providing Enough Data

Another big area is providing detailed customer metrics and feature usage data, which allows partners to build deeply integrated experiences, says Hoare. “Partners can customize websites via API, including fonts, themes, logos, and colors. We also help streamline website onboarding by sharing customer answers from their onboarding flow.” An example of this in practice is GoDaddy’s partnership with Tailor Brands, he adds.

Security and Governance

Lastly, amid rising API attacks, ensuring security best practices are followed is imperative — whether your API is internal, partner-facing, or publicly accessible. At GoDaddy, Hoare shares its commitments to data security and encryption.

“We handle partner data with different levels of security depending on its sensitivity,” he says. “Information that doesn’t personally identify users is stored securely but not encrypted. For data considered personal (like an address), we encrypt it when it’s being transferred and while it’s stored.”

Additionally, personal information is encrypted in multiple layers, applying to both the data provided to identify a user and any personal details linked to their account, says Hoare. Lastly is website information encryption — “we prioritize data security and encrypt fields that contain personal information while at rest for published websites.”

Finding The Right Match

There isn’t a Tinder for matching with good API business partners… it’s up to platform strategists to attract and vet third parties to find the right match. When it comes to finding the right partners at GoDaddy, things like high-quality products, cultural alignment, and a commitment to experimentation rank high on the list, says Hoare.

“We’re also looking to partner and form strategic relationships where we can drive innovation with volume,” says Hoare. “Finally, an ideal partner is a company that is customer-centric and focused on data-driven decisions while offering world-class customer support.”

All in all, the ideal partner isn’t just about scale — it’s about innovation, shared values, and customer focus. And with APIs at the center, these partnerships aren’t just integrations — they’re business drivers.