Domain name
- Standard term
A domain name is a readable web address, such as example.com, that you register for a renewable term. Its records tell browsers and email services where to find your website and mail.
A comparison: Like a saved contact in your phone: the name stays the same while the number behind it can change.
The name's records sit on name servers, the computers that answer for it in the Domain Name System (DNS), the internet's directory. The company that sells you the name, called a “registrar,” runs those servers unless you switch to another company's, such as your host's. Devices keep each answer for a set time, so a change reaches visitors as saved answers expire.
Where you’ll meet it
You buy a domain for your small cleaning business and type it into a browser. Nothing loads. Your website is already built and running on a hosting service, at an address the host gave you.
What to do
The name doesn't point at your site yet. Your host's custom-domain page lists the records to add. Copy them into the DNS settings at whichever company runs your name servers, usually your registrar, then check that both the plain name and the www version open with the padlock.
Easy to mix up
A hosting company keeps your site's files and serves them to each visitor. The company you register a domain name with keeps your right to the name, and often its records.
Check yourself
Your card expired, so your domain's renewal failed last week. Your site is still running on its host. What do visitors who type the name most likely see?
Go deeperA working domain depends on its records, its account, and its certificate
An A record holds a server's numeric address, a CNAME record points the name at another name, an MX record lists the mail servers, and a TXT record holds text that services read to confirm ownership. DNS rules keep a CNAME off the plain name, so hosts usually give an A record for example.com and a CNAME for www.
Whoever holds the registrar login can switch the name's servers, and so its records, or transfer it to another registrar. A login tied to an employee who has left can lock a business out of its own name, so keep the account under a shared business address with two-step sign-in turned on.
The padlock marks a secure connection, the https in an address, and it needs a certificate issued for the name. Hosts request one automatically once the records point at them, so the padlock can appear a few minutes after the site itself, and any address the certificate leaves out, such as a forgotten www, shows a browser warning.