What is DNS?


What You Need to Know about DNS

DNS Propagation and Site Migrations

DNS changes can take 24-72 hours to propagate globally. During site migrations, improper DNS management causes crawling issues and temporary traffic loss that impacts revenue.

DNS Downtime Impacts Crawling

When DNS servers fail, search engines cannot access your site for indexing. Extended outages signal reliability problems to Google, potentially affecting rankings and organic visibility.

DNS Speed Affects Page Load Times

Slow DNS resolution adds latency to every page request. Premium DNS providers offer faster lookup times, contributing to better Core Web Vitals scores and improved user experience.

TTL Settings Control Update Speed

Time-to-Live (TTL) values determine how long DNS records are cached. Lower TTL settings before major changes enable faster propagation, reducing migration downtime and crawling disruptions.

DNS Configuration for International Sites

Geo-targeted DNS routing directs users to regional servers based on location. Proper configuration improves international site speed and helps search engines understand geographic targeting for better local rankings.

Monitoring Prevents Critical Failures

Monitoring tools alert you to DNS resolution failures before they impact search visibility. Proactive monitoring prevents extended downtime that damages organic traffic and erodes search engine trust.


Frequently Asked Questions about DNS

1. How does DNS affect SEO?

DNS failures prevent search engines from accessing your site, causing indexing issues and traffic loss. Slow DNS resolution also contributes to poor page speed, negatively impacting Core Web Vitals and rankings.

2. What happens during DNS propagation?

When you change DNS records, the updates spread gradually across internet servers worldwide. This typically takes 24-72 hours, during which some users may reach old servers while others access new ones.

3. Should I lower TTL before site migrations?

Yes. Reducing TTL to 300-600 seconds a few days before migration allows faster propagation of new DNS records, minimizing downtime and ensuring search engines can quickly access your new server.

4. Does DNS provider choice impact site performance?

Premium DNS providers offer faster resolution times and better uptime than basic hosting DNS. Faster DNS lookups reduce page load times, improving user experience and Core Web Vitals scores for SEO.


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Related Terms

CSS

Stylesheet language that defines website appearance and layout, affecting Core Web Vitals scores and mobile-first indexing performance.

CSS

Server Log Analysis

Server log analysis reviews server logs to see how search engines crawl a site, revealing indexing issues and crawl inefficiencies.

Server Log Analysis

Schema Markup

Schema markup is structured data that helps search engines understand content meaning and display rich results in search.

Schema Markup

URL Slug

A URL slug is the readable text after the domain name that identifies a specific page and helps search engines understand page content.

URL Slug


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