How to connect your domain to your website (nameservers or DNS records): PageKiwi

In short: your domain is your street address, and DNS is the directory that says which building it leads to. Changing the nameservers hands the whole directory listing to someone else. Adding DNS records changes one or two lines and leaves the rest, like your mail, where it is.

Your domain (yourwebsite.com) and your website usually live with different companies: the domain company you rent the name from, and the website builder or web host that holds the pages. Connecting them means telling the domain where the website is. That's done in the domain's DNS settings (DNS is the internet's address book).

Before you start: if the domain is close to running out, renew it first. See Domain name expired?

Nameservers or DNS records: which way?

Your website company will offer one or both of these.

Change the nameservers: Hands every setting for your domain to your website company. You type in the two or more nameserver addresses they give you (something like ns1.example.net), and they handle the rest. The catch: everything moves, email settings included. Email that worked before stops unless its records are added again at the new place.
Add DNS records (often called "pointing"): Leaves your settings with your domain company and changes one or two lines. A little more typing, but your email and anything else on the domain stay as they are.

Nobody gets email at this domain yet: either works. Nameservers are the least typing.
Email already works at this domain: add DNS records. Or, before you change the nameservers, copy every email record (MX, SPF, DKIM) to the new place.
Your website company offers only one way: use that one.

The DNS records, in plain words

The records you're likely to see (your website company gives you the exact values)
Type	What it does	Usually used for
A	Points a name to a server's number (an IP address, like `192.0.2.10`)	The bare domain, yourwebsite.com, shown as `@` or a blank host
AAAA	The same, for the newer, longer kind of address (IPv6)	Only if your website company lists one
CNAME	Points a name to another name, and follows it wherever it goes	`www`, so www.yourwebsite.com goes to your website company's name for your site
TXT	A line of text, often a code that proves the domain is yours	Verifying the domain, and email settings
MX	Where your email is delivered	Email. Leave these alone when you connect a website.

Why both an A record and a CNAME? The DNS rules say a name with a CNAME can't have any other records, and the bare domain always has some (its nameservers, for a start). So the bare domain gets A records, and www gets the CNAME. Add both, or one version of your address won't work.

The steps, in order

Find where your domain's DNS is run. Who hosts this website? names your domain company and your nameservers. Log in there. Usually it's where you bought the domain; if the nameservers belong to someone else, that's where the records live.
Save what's there now. Take a screenshot of every record before you change anything, so you can put things back.
Get the settings from your website company. In your website's settings, look for Domains, Connect a domain or Custom domain, type your domain, and pick nameservers or records. Copy the values exactly; paste them rather than typing.
Make the change at your domain company.
- Nameservers: find Nameservers, choose custom ones, and replace the old ones with the new ones.
- DNS records: open the DNS settings (often called DNS, DNS records, Manage DNS or Zone file). Add the new records. Delete old A records for @ and an old www record that point somewhere else. Keep MX and TXT records for email.
Go back to your website company and press its check or verify button once.
Wait, then test. Open both yourwebsite.com and www.yourwebsite.com, on a computer and on a phone with Wi-Fi off. Then run Who hosts this website? again: it should name your new web host.

On a website builder? These guides have the exact screens: Squarespace domain not connecting and Wix: "domain isn't connected to a website yet".

Waiting for DNS (propagation)

"DNS propagation" is the wait while the world catches up. Computers everywhere remember a domain's old answer for a while to save time, and each record says how long (its TTL, "time to live", in seconds: 3600 is an hour).

DNS records: as long as the old record's TTL. Often an hour, sometimes a day.
Nameservers: up to 48 hours. The .com and .net registries tell computers to remember a domain's nameservers for two days.
Meanwhile, some people see the old site and some the new one, and your own computer may be behind your phone. That's normal.
Don't change anything else while you wait, or you won't know which change worked.
Planning ahead? Lower the TTL on the records you'll change to 300 (five minutes) a day before, and the switch itself is quicker.

The padlock comes after

The padlock and the "https" come from an SSL certificate. Your website company gets one for your domain, usually by itself, once the domain points at them: the company that issues it checks that your domain leads to your website company's server, so it can't happen before the connection works.

For a short while after connecting, your site may say "Not secure" or "Your connection is not private". If it still does a day after the site loads at your domain, see "Not secure" on a website builder or "Your connection is not private".

Not working? Which is it?

You made the change less than 48 hours ago: Probably still propagating. Wait, and don't change anything else.
Your website company says a record is missing or wrong: A typo, or a record added under the wrong name. Compare the type, the name and the value with what they asked for, one at a time.
It works with www but not without (or the other way round): One of the pair is missing: the A records for @, or the CNAME for www.
A value shows your domain twice, like sites.example.net.yourwebsite.com: Some domain companies add your domain to the end. Type the value with a period at the end (sites.example.net.), or leave your domain off.
You added records, but nothing changes: Your nameservers point somewhere else, so the records you edited aren't the ones being read. Who hosts this website? shows which nameservers are in use; change the records there.
The website works, but email stopped: The nameservers moved and the email records didn't come with them. Add your email's MX, SPF and DKIM records at the new place. Email check shows what's missing.
"This site can't be reached" or DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN: No address was found for the domain at all. See This site can't be reached.
You still see the old website: Your computer may be remembering it. See Website still shows the old version.

Send this to your web person

Not sure what to say? Copy this into an email, add your website's address, and send it.

Hi,

Could you connect our domain, [your domain], to our website at [website company]?

Please:
- tell me whether you'll change the nameservers or add DNS records
- keep our email working (copy the MX, SPF and DKIM records if the nameservers change)
- make both [your domain] and www.[your domain] work
- check the padlock (https) works once it's connected
- send me a screenshot of the DNS records before and after

Thanks

What PageKiwi can help with

Who hosts this website? names your domain company, nameservers, web host and email, before and after the change.
Email check shows whether your email records survived.
Site Watch checks your site every night once it's live, and emails you if it stops loading or the padlock is close to running out.

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How to connect your domain to your website