When it comes to the internet, the underlying technologies and the parallels they form can be a bit confusing.
This post aims to resolve some correlation between those things and how they can relate to your service or business.
The most essential part of any network is identification. IP addresses (or) Internet Protocol Address provides this. The IP address lends us the ability to directly communicate with the end client or website.
However it's too hectic to remember all the IP address of a website we want to visit.
Hence we rely on human readable "domain" names to access them.
What is a domain:
Domains are name tags that signify the underlying autonomy governing that part of the internet.
They consist of various parts such as:
- top level domain
- domain name
- subdomain
The subdomain identifies what network the domain is a part of (mostly www or world-wide-web).
the domain name is the name we want our organization we want our domain to be associated with, such as google, youtube, facebook etc.
the top level domain is the identifier that correlates to what part of the internet our domain is a part of, such as .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .gov (government).
Domain names are managed by ICANN (or) Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
Domains in essence are the ID tags of the internet that point people on the internet to our website, essentially an IP address that is mapped to a human readable link.
So how does our computer know what is the IP address of a given domain ?
That's where DNS comes into play.
What is a DNS ?
DNS or Domain Name Service is a system that serves web users the IP address given the domain of the website they wish to connect with (like a phonebook).
Its consists of many components to look up a database of IP addresses and provide it to web user.
DNS servers are considered the backbone of the Internet.
They contain the database of every single website that one would want to access.
When you sign up for a domain names, your domain name and the IP address your website are given to a DNS server for caching.
When a person would like to access your website, the DNS server gives the IP address of your website so they can directly access it.
You don't need to communicate with a DNS server at all, your web browser takes care in handling that.
Some of the common DNS servers are 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare DNS), 8.8.8.8 (Google DNS) etc.
Note: your internet provider may also have their own DNS server too.
So how do I get a domain name ?
You can purchase a domain name from one of many domain name providers.
First you need to find out what domain you would like.
Then you need to look up the various providers to see if that domain is available for sale and if you can buy it.
Once you purchased your domain name, you can assign it to your website and when it goes live.
The IP address corresponding to your website will be given to the DNS server for look up.
Depending on your domain providers, you can also easily setup custom emails addresses for your service employees.
GoDaddy Has easy to use guide to setup email accounts with your custom domains.
So how does this correlate with my website ?
For your website to be more accessible to others on the internet, its IP needs to be cached by a DNS server.
Since Google's DNS servers are very popular you can check if your website has been cached to it and is available to be looked up easily.
This is why SEO is important!
Making sure your SEO is optimal is the way to making sure your website reaches the masses perfectly.
Wrapping up:
In short,
- Domains are like Name tags for your website's IP address
- Domains are Looked up through DNS
- For a faster response and wider reach, SEO boosts your look up and hit rate.