A domain name is the address you type to reach a website: martinsbakery.co.uk, edensalon.com. It is also used for professional email addresses (hello@martinsbakery.co.uk). You don’t buy it once and for all: you rent it by the year from a registrar, and you must renew it to keep it.
Domain name, hosting, website: the difference
- the domain name is the address;
- hosting is the computer, at a provider, where the pages are stored;
- the website is the content: text, photos, menu, contact form.
All three can sit with the same provider or with different ones. Each extension (.com, .co.uk, .fr…) has its own registry, and registration always goes through a registrar.
A concrete example
A florist registers leasflowers.co.uk. She prints it on her cards, window and bags, and creates lea@leasflowers.co.uk. Five years later, if she changes website tool, she keeps the same address: customers and Google see no difference.
Common mistakes
- leaving the domain in the name of a provider or former employee: check that you are the registrant;
- missing the renewal (expired card, unread reminder email): website and email stop working;
- picking a name that is too long, full of hyphens or hard to spell over the phone.
To choose the extension and the name, read the domain name guide for small businesses.
Go further
Related terms
Legal notice (website imprint)
A legal notice (or imprint) is the page of a business website that says who publishes it, how to contact them and their registration details, as required by EU e-commerce rules and national laws.
Structured data (Schema.org)
Structured data is information added to a page’s code, using the Schema.org vocabulary, to tell search engines clearly what the page is about: a business, its address, opening hours, FAQs…
NAP (name, address, phone)
NAP (Name, Address, Phone) means a business’s name, address and phone number, which should be written the same way on its Google profile, website and directories.