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There are millions of websites live and operational on the internet. They are hosted and managed by web servers that are located all over the world. To find a website and where it’s being hosted requires a directory, without which it would be virtually impossible to find websites. DNS stands for Domain Name System which is the largest digital database for the internet in the world. This database contains information about every website in the world. Every website and every machine that comes on the internet has an IP address which is a digital address. The domain name of a website is stored along with its IP address in this database. The data files that tell a web server how to respond to a request by a search browser are known as DNS records.
In computer jargon, DNS records are called ‘mapping files.’ When a web server sends a request by a user to visit a particular website, the request is sent to the DNS database. This database looks up its records, finds the website’s IP address, and forwards it to the requesting server. After getting this information, the requesting server uses the IP address to find the website and display it to the user who initiated the request.
There are letters associated with the DNS records which are known as DNS syntax. Some of the commonly used syntax with all DNS records are; A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR, NS, SOA, SRV, TXT, and NAPTR.
The ‘A’ syntax in a DNS record is the most basic type of syntax. It stands for ‘address’ and indicates the IP address of the website.
The ‘AAAA’ record is an IPV6 address that maps the hostname to a 128-bit IPV6 address.
The ‘CNAME’ stands for ‘conical name’ and is used to associate sub-domains with existing DNS records.
The ‘MX’ stands for mail exchange and is used for mail exchange servers.
The ‘PTR’ record as the name indicates a pointer record and maps an IPV4 address to the CNAME.
The “NS’ record stands for ‘name server’ and indicates the server on which the domain resides.
The ‘SOA’ record stores important information about the domain, like when was it last updated, etc.
The “SRV’ record indicates which TCP service the domain operates.
The ‘TXT’ record permits the website’s administrator to insert any text in the record.
Why do you need to look at DNS records?
The DNS records of any website contain vital information for webmasters and SEO. These records give you details regarding any website that you might be interested in viewing. If you want to know the IP address of a domain, you can get this information by looking at the DNS records of that domain. An IP address will tell you from which address the domain is being hosted, and if you know the structure of IP addresses you will also know in which country the domain is being hosted. IP addresses are assigned like telephone numbers. We know that each country has been assigned a particular number followed by a city code and then the actual telephone number. To make an international call, you have to dial the international code, area code and the actual number to
make the call. Similarly, IP addresses are also assigned following a particular structure.
The other important information that you get when you view DNS records is the addresses of any subdomains that are associated with the domain. Also when the domain was last updated, what is its refresh rate, etc.?
You might want to check a competitor’s DNS records and see where it is being hosted and other information about the website. DNS records are helpful for webmasters and SEOs when setting up or managing a website.
If you want to find DNS records of a domain, you will need to use an SEO tool that will fetch and display these records for you. To do this, go to ahrefseotools.com from your search browser and scroll down the icons till you spot the ‘Find DNS records’ icon and click on it. Or you can go directly to the tool by copy/pasting ahrefseoaid.com/find-dns-records in your search browser.
Once you are on the site, type in the domain name of the website whose DNS records you want it to fetch. Press ‘Submit, ‘ and in seconds it will return the DNS records of the domain. Here you can view all DNS records for a domain. Now you can examine the records and see the IP address listed in the ‘A’ type record. The list will also contain ‘NS,’ ‘SOA,’ ‘MX’ and ‘TXT’ records.
All this information that is contained in the DNS records is very helpful in knowing the environment in which a domain is operating and all the parameters associated with it.
You can also do a Google DNS lookup, a DNS whois search, and dig DNS records. In case you need help you can learn how to use the lookup to find the IP addresses.
Getting and studying DNS records is important for SEO and webmasters. Once you decide to use a web hosting service, you will want to know your website’s IP address and the additional services provided by the web servers for your domain. If the internet service is slow or the refresh rate is slow, you can ask your web hosting service provider to improve them.
No website can operate without its DNS records being stored in the DNS database. It’s the database that holds all the necessary information about a website.
It’s the server that all web servers use to process a visitor's request, and it guides them to the correct location. For example, a website owner might decide to change the web hosting service provider and move the domain to a better provider. When he or she signs up on the new hosting servers, the first action that will take place is that the domain’s information contained in the DNS records will be updated.
Without DNS records no website can operate on the internet.
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