DNS, or Domain Name System, is a method of organizing website addresses so that they’re easy for humans to remember. When you type a website address into your browser, DNS converts that address into the IP address that corresponds to the server where the website is hosted.
Every website has a unique IP address, and DNS is like a phone book that matches human-friendly website addresses with their corresponding IP addresses. DNS is also what allows you to use www in front of website addresses – without DNS, you would have to type out the full IP address of a website every time you wanted to visit it.
Updating your DNS records on Squarespace is a fairly simple process, but it’s important to understand what DNS is and how it works before you get started. This article will explain everything you need to know about updating your DNS records on Squarespace.
What Are DNS Records?
DNS records are basically like entries in a phone book. They contain information about how internet traffic should be routed to your website. There are several different types of DNS records, but the most common ones are A records and CNAME records.
A records match a human-friendly domain name (like www.example.com) with a corresponding IP address. CNAME records do the same thing, but they’re used when you want to route traffic from one domain name to another domain name. For example, if you want all traffic from www.com to be routed to example.com, you would set up a CNAME record.
First and foremost, if you do not know what you are doing, it is very easy to make a mistake that could result in your website becoming inaccessible. Even if you are careful, there is always a possibility that something could go wrong.
In addition, if you make any changes to your DNS records, it could take up to 48 hours for those changes to propagate across the internet. This means that during that time, your website may be inaccessible to some users.
Therefore, it is important that you plan ahead and make sure that you understand exactly what you are doing before making any changes to your DNS records.
Updating Your DNS Records on Squarespace
Now that you know what DNS records are and how they work, let’s talk about how to update them on Squarespace. The first thing you’ll need to do is log in to your Squarespace account and go to the DNS Settings page.
Once you’re on the DNS Settings page, you’ll see a list of all the DNS records that are currently set up for your domain name. To add a new record, click the “+ Add Record” button at the bottom of the page.
On the next screen, you’ll need to select the type of record you want to add from the “Record Type” drop-down menu. If you’re not sure which type of record you need, consult your domain registrar or web host.
After you’ve selected the type of record you want to add, enter the “Name”, “TTL”, and “Data”. The Name and Data fields will be different depending on the type of record you’re adding, so be sure to consult your domain registrar or web host for more information.
