What is DNS and how does a domain find your website?

What DNS does

DNS, the Domain Name System, associates a domain with its configured information. A browser needs a website's IP address, for example. Email uses different records to find the receiving email service.

Domain registration gives you the use of a name. Hosting stores and runs the website. Nameservers identify where its active DNS information can be found. Different companies may provide these services.

Find where your domain is managed

1. Check the domain's current nameservers in its management settings.
2. Identify where to edit DNS records from those nameservers. cPanel's Zone Editor affects public DNS only when that DNS service is in use.
3. Identify the purpose of the change: website routing, email routing or ownership verification.
4. Copy the records supplied by the new service and save existing values before editing.

A practical example

You can keep a domain with NordicHost, publish the website on hosting for AI-built websites and use a separate email provider. Changing the website destination does not require removing email settings. www.example.com and example.com are different names, so check both.

If a change does not appear

First check that you edited the active DNS provider. Then check the record name, type and cache duration, called TTL. Adding a domain to an application and adding a DNS record are different steps: both may be necessary.