Domain glossary
Key domain name industry terms, explained clearly.
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A
A record
An A record maps a domain or subdomain to an IPv4 address. It is one of the most common DNS records for websit…
Admin-C
The Admin-C, or administrative contact, is the person authorized to manage a domain name. This role does not a…
Aftermarket
The domain aftermarket is the secondary market where domain names are bought and sold after their original reg…
Anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It helps describe the context of the link and the topic associate…
Anycast DNS
Anycast DNS lets multiple servers in different locations answer on the same IP address, routing users to the c…
Auth-Info
Auth-Info is the authorization code used to transfer a domain from one registrar to another. The registrar mus…
Authoritative DNS
Authoritative DNS holds the official DNS records for a domain. Resolvers ultimately query authoritative namese…
B
Backlink
A backlink is a link from another website. Backlinks can contribute to a domain's reputation when they come fr…
Backorder
A domain backorder is a request to try to register or acquire a domain as soon as it becomes available after e…
Brand monitoring
Brand monitoring tracks domains, content, certificates and mentions related to a brand in order to detect abus…
Brand protection
Online brand protection is the practice of registering, monitoring or recovering domain names that may affect…
Buy now
Buy now means that a domain is available at a fixed price. The buyer can proceed directly without negotiating…
C
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the preferred address of a page when similar or duplicate content is available through mult…
ccTLD
A ccTLD is a country-code top-level domain, usually made of two letters and assigned to a country or territory…
CDN
A CDN, Content Delivery Network, is a distributed network of servers that delivers web content from locations…
Certificate Transparency
Certificate Transparency is a public logging system for TLS certificates issued for domains. It helps detect s…
Cloud
Cloud hosting uses distributed computing resources provided over the Internet. Compared with traditional hosti…
CNAME record
A CNAME record creates a DNS alias, pointing one name to another. It is commonly used for subdomains connected…
Cybersquatting
Cybersquatting is the registration or use of a domain name that targets someone else's trademark or brand for…
D
Direct navigation
Direct navigation happens when a user types a domain directly into the browser instead of arriving from search…
DKIM
DKIM digitally signs outgoing email using a key published in DNS. Receiving servers can verify message integri…
DMARC
DMARC uses SPF and DKIM to define how receiving servers should handle unauthenticated email. It helps protect…
DNS
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is the system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addres…
DNS abuse
DNS abuse refers to abusive uses of the domain name infrastructure, including phishing, malware, botnets, spam…
DNS propagation
DNS propagation is the time required for DNS changes to become visible across resolvers and caches. It depends…
DNS query
A DNS query is a request sent to the DNS system to obtain information about a domain, such as its IP address…
DNS record
A DNS record is an entry in a domain's DNS zone. Common records include A, AAAA, MX, CNAME and TXT.
DNSSEC
DNSSEC is a DNS security extension that helps verify the authenticity of DNS responses and reduce manipulation…
Domain appraisal
Domain appraisal is the estimation of a domain name's economic value based on extension, length, keywords, his…
Domain Authority
Domain Authority is a Moz metric that estimates the overall SEO strength of a domain on a 0 to 100 scale. It i…
Domain broker
A domain broker is an intermediary specialized in buying and selling domain names. Brokers can help identify o…
Domain forwarding
Domain forwarding redirects a domain to another web address. It is often used to send traffic from secondary d…
Domain hack
A domain hack is a domain where the name and extension together form a word or expression, such as examples us…
Domain hijacking
Domain hijacking is the theft or unauthorized control of a domain name. It can happen through compromised cred…
Domain landing page
A domain landing page is a page dedicated to presenting or selling a domain name, often showing price, inquiry…
Domain portfolio
A domain portfolio is a collection of domain names owned by an individual, company or investor.
Domain portfolio management
Domain portfolio management includes renewals, DNS, security, pricing, landing pages, traffic monitoring and d…
Domain Rating
Domain Rating is an Ahrefs metric that measures the strength of a domain backlink profile on a 0 to 100 scale…
Domain spam score
Domain spam score is an SEO tool indicator estimating whether a backlink profile may show risky or manipulativ…
Domain tasting
Domain tasting was the practice of registering a domain for a very short period, usually during the Add Grace…
Domain transfer
A domain transfer is the process of moving a domain name to another registrar or holder. It usually requires a…
Domain typo
A domain typo is a domain name similar to a popular website or brand, often registered to capture traffic from…
Domainer
A domainer is an investor who buys domain names with the goal of reselling them later at a higher price, somet…
Drop catching
Drop catching is the practice of registering a domain name as soon as it is deleted and becomes available agai…
E
EPP code
An EPP code, also called authorization code or Auth-Code, is used to authorize a domain transfer between regis…
Escrow
Escrow is a transaction safety service where funds are held by a trusted third party until agreed conditions…
Expired domain
An expired domain is a domain name that was not renewed by its previous holder. Depending on the extension, it…
G
General availability
General availability is the phase when a new extension becomes available to the public under the registry's st…
Glue record
A glue record provides the IP address of a nameserver when that nameserver is inside the domain it serves, avo…
Grace period
The grace period is the phase immediately after a domain expires, during which renewal or deletion procedures…
gTLD
A gTLD is a generic top-level domain, such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .pro or newer extensions introduced thr…
H
Historical Whois
Historical Whois services show how registration data for a domain changed over time. They can help assess owne…
Homoglyph attack
A homoglyph attack uses visually similar characters to create domains that look like legitimate names, often e…
HSTS
HSTS, HTTP Strict Transport Security, tells browsers to use HTTPS for a domain after the first valid visit, re…
HTTPS
HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP. It uses TLS to encrypt data exchanged between users and websites.
I
IANA
IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, coordinates key Internet identifiers, including IP address allo…
ICANN
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, coordinates the global domain name system and…
IDN
An IDN is an Internationalized Domain Name that includes non-ASCII characters, such as accented letters or cha…
IDN homograph
An IDN homograph is an internationalized domain that looks similar to a known domain by using characters from…
Installment payment
Installment payment allows a buyer to pay for a domain in multiple payments instead of one upfront amount.
J
K
L
Landrush
Landrush is a launch phase of a new extension after sunrise and before or near general availability. It allows…
Lease to own
Lease to own is a payment structure where the buyer pays for a domain in installments and obtains full ownersh…
M
Make offer
Make offer means that a domain does not have a fixed price or that the seller accepts proposals from intereste…
Malware domain
A malware domain is a domain used to distribute malware, control malicious infrastructure or host harmful cont…
MX record
An MX record specifies which mail servers handle email for a domain. Multiple servers can be configured with d…
N
Nameserver
A nameserver is a DNS server that tells where a domain's technical records are managed, such as A, MX, CNAME o…
NIC.it
NIC.it is the Italian registry responsible for managing .it domain names and the related registration rules an…
O
P
Parking
Domain parking is the practice of holding a registered domain without using it for a full website or email ser…
Pending delete
Pending delete is the final phase before a domain is removed from the registry database and may become availab…
Phishing domain
A phishing domain is a domain used to imitate a trusted brand or service in order to steal credentials, person…
Premium domain
A premium domain is a domain name with above-average value because of length, memorability, keywords, extensio…
Premium renewal
A premium renewal is a renewal fee higher than the standard price, applied to some premium domains, especially…
PSRD
PSRD refers to dispute resolution service providers accredited for procedures involving .it domain name reassi…
R
Recursive resolver
A recursive resolver receives DNS queries from users and finds answers by querying caches, root servers, TLD s…
Redemption period
The redemption period is a recovery phase after expiration during which a domain may still be restored by the…
Referring domains
Referring domains are the unique domains linking to a website or domain name. They differ from total backlinks…
Registrar
A registrar is a company accredited or authorized to register domain names for end users according to the rule…
Registrar lock
Registrar lock is a protection status that prevents unauthorized domain transfers or critical changes. It is o…
Registry
A registry manages the central database and technical infrastructure for a specific domain extension, includin…
Registry lock
Registry lock is an advanced protection level applied at registry level to reduce unauthorized changes to crit…
Reserved domain
A reserved domain is a name that the registry does not make available for normal registration due to technical…
RIPE
RIPE is the European regional Internet registry community involved in IP address allocation and Internet coord…
rTLD
An rTLD is a regional top-level domain associated with a geographic region, such as .eu for the European Union…
S
Second-level domain
The second-level domain is the main part of a domain name before the extension. In webinvest.it, “webinvest” i…
SPF
SPF is a DNS record that lists which servers are authorized to send email for a domain. It helps reduce sender…
SSL certificate
An SSL certificate, more correctly TLS certificate, enables HTTPS and encrypts the connection between browser…
Subdomain
A subdomain is a part of the main domain, such as blog.example.com or shop.example.com. It can point to differ…
Sunrise period
A sunrise period is an early launch phase of a new extension where trademark holders can register domains befo…
T
Tech-C
The Tech-C, or technical contact, is the contact responsible for technical domain management, nameservers and…
Trademark Claims
Trademark Claims is a service that warns registrants when a domain matches a verified trademark and notifies t…
Trademark Clearinghouse
The Trademark Clearinghouse is a centralized database of verified trademarks used in new gTLD launch programs.
Traffic domain
A traffic domain receives visits even without active campaigns, often because of previous history, links, dire…
TTL
TTL, Time To Live, is the time a DNS record can be cached before it must be requested again. Lower TTL values…
Type-in traffic
Type-in traffic is traffic generated by users who manually type a domain into the browser address bar.
Typosquatting
Typosquatting is the registration of domains similar to a known brand or website by exploiting typing mistakes…
U
V
W
Whois
Whois is a protocol and lookup system used to retrieve registration information about a domain name, although…
Whois privacy
Whois privacy is a service that hides or replaces registrant contact details in public Whois output, subject t…
Wildcard DNS
Wildcard DNS allows undefined subdomains to resolve automatically, such as anything.example.com. It is useful…
X
Y
Z
Zone file
A zone file contains the DNS records for a domain or DNS zone, including A, MX, CNAME, TXT and nameserver reco…
Zone transfer
A zone transfer copies DNS zone records from one authoritative server to another, commonly between primary and…
ZSK
ZSK means Zone Signing Key. In DNSSEC it signs DNS zone records, while the KSK signs the ZSK.