Domains & DNS

3 tips and 3 guides in this topic.

Your domain is your website's name — like example.be — which you rent from a registrar. DNS (the Domain Name System) publishes the records that connect that name to services: which server answers for the web address, where senders should deliver your email, and which providers are allowed to send or verify mail in your name. Get these right and everything downstream — email, search, trust — has a solid foundation.

If someone else handles this for you

Think of your domain like the sign over your shop and your entry in the phone book: the name people look for, and the directions that quietly send them — and your email — to the right place. You don't set any of this up by hand, and you don't need to. What matters is that it's registered to your business, and that you know where it — and its DNS — are managed.

Ask your web person: Is our business the registered holder of the domain — us, not you? Which registrar and DNS provider do we use, and do we have access to both accounts? Is the domain locked against transfer and set to renew automatically? And who can change the DNS records where our website and email point? If those answers make sense, the foundation is solid.

How do you choose a domain name people actually remember?

Choose a distinctive domain people can say, hear, type and put after an @ without explanation, pick the ending your audience expects, check trademarks and lookalikes, and keep it under your own control.

Domains & DNS Plan

Is your domain protected against hijacking and expiry?

Keep the domain in a company-controlled account, secure registrar and DNS logins with strong MFA, enable transfer or registry locks, keep recovery and billing contacts current, and run DNSSEC carefully.

Domains & DNS Operate

Who controls your domain, DNS, hosting and recovery accounts?

Put every critical web account in the business's name with named administrators, MFA, independent recovery routes and monitored billing, keep an account inventory, and remove access when people or suppliers leave.

Domains & DNS Operate

Guides & articles

Changing your registrar or DNS provider (without breaking anything)

A registrar transfer changes who manages the registration, a nameserver change moves your authoritative DNS, and a record edit redirects one service — name the move you're making, reproduce and test the new setup before switching, plan DNSSEC separately, and keep the old service running until everything is verified.

Guide

DNS records explained (A, CNAME, MX, TXT and more)

DNS records are the instructions that tell the internet where your website and email live — knowing what A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS and CAA records and TTL each do lets you set them correctly and avoid the usual mistakes.

Guide

Connect your domain to an external service

Connecting a domain means adding the records the provider gives you at your existing DNS host — back up the zone first, lower TTL ahead of the switch, keep old and new email running in parallel, and verify everything before removing the old service.

Guide

Ask your own AI assistant

Paste this into a general-purpose AI assistant (for example ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) and fill in the [bracketed] parts with your own details to go deeper on domains & dns.

You are a practical, plain-spoken web consultant. I run a small business and here is my situation: [describe your website, who registered the domain, where DNS is managed, and who has access to those accounts]. Help me check that my domain and DNS are properly organized. First explain, in plain terms, what a domain, DNS, and DNSSEC actually do. Then assess: is my business the registered holder; who controls the registrar and DNS accounts; are two-factor authentication, a transfer lock, and auto-renewal with a valid payment method in place; do recovery, security, and renewal notices reach a monitored address; and do the website, email, and nameserver records point at the right providers? Give me a prioritized checklist of what to verify or fix and how to confirm each item. Tell me when something needs the registrar's, DNS provider's, or host's support, and do not guess when information is missing.

Copy it, then open your assistant: ChatGPT Claude Gemini Perplexity Copilot Grok

AI can be confidently wrong — treat the reply as a starting point and verify anything important, especially legal or security points.

All topics