Domain Names
News from Domain Names
A domain name is often the one part of a website a business keeps for its whole life, so it is worth understanding how registration, renewal and DNS really work. This category covers the practical side of owning domains: registering and transferring them, how nameservers and DNS records fit together, moving a website between hosts without downtime by lowering TTL values in advance, and recognising the renewal and search engine submission scams aimed at domain owners.
A lot of the letters and emails domain owners receive look official and are not. If one arrives that you are unsure about, check it before paying anything; our customers can simply send it to us on a support ticket.
You can search for and register domain names, including .uk domains, on our domains page.
What Happens When a Domain Name Expires
An expired domain is not lost straight away, but the website and email stop sooner than most people expect. The timelines for .uk and .com, and how to avoid it.
Transferring a .uk Domain: IPS Tags Explained
A .uk transfer works nothing like a .com: no auth code, no fee, no extra year. How IPS tags work, and the order to do things in to avoid downtime.
The Search Engine Submission Scam, and What Actually Works
Register a domain and the emails start: submit your site to hundreds of search engines, for a fee. It is a scam, the submission tools they claim to use no longer exist, and here is what to do instead.
Speed Up Website Transfers by Reducing DNS TTL
If some visitors see your new server and others still land on the old one, this is why. Lowering TTL fixes it, but only if you do it a day in advance.