Built by Rankite, the SEO team behind Swordfish AI's +400% revenue and Zluri's +45% organic growth. See the case studies
Every website lives on a server with a numeric IP address, but people type names like example.com instead of numbers. DNS, the domain name system, is the directory that translates a name into the right address. A DNS lookup asks that directory which server a domain points to and shows you the answer.
This tool returns the domain's A records. An A record is the entry that maps a domain to an IPv4 address, the address of the machine that serves the website. If a domain has more than one A record, your browser can use any of them, which is a common way to spread traffic across servers.
DNS sits between your domain and your visitors, so when it is wrong, nothing else works. If you move your site to a new host, you update the A record to point at the new server. Until that change spreads across the internet, some visitors still reach the old server. Checking the A record is the fastest way to confirm a move has taken effect.
DNS is also where email routing, domain verification and security records live, though those use different record types. For SEO specifically, the thing to get right is that your main domain and its www version resolve to the correct server and stay reachable. A domain that fails to resolve is invisible to both users and search engines, so a quick lookup is a healthy habit after any change.
Type a domain without the http prefix, for example yoursite.com, and run the lookup. The result shows the IP address or addresses behind that domain. To confirm a hosting move, run the lookup before and after the change and watch the IP switch from the old server to the new one.
Keep in mind that DNS results can be cached. After you change a record, providers and devices may hold the old answer for a while based on the record's time to live setting, so a fresh value can take minutes to hours to appear everywhere. If you still see an old address right after a change, give it time and check again.
Want a full technical review? See Rankite's complete SEO site audit.
Inspect the live response status and HTTP headers any URL returns.
See how hard it is to rank for any keyword on a 0 to 100 scale.
Get the average monthly Google searches, CPC and competition for a keyword.
Get a free, no-obligation SEO audit and a 30-minute strategy session. We'll show you exactly where the growth is hiding.
Fill out the form and we'll get back to you within one business day. Prefer email? Write to us directly at contact@rankite.com.