Domains
How to Connect a Domain to Your Website
DomainHostly Team · 1 November 2026
Buying a domain does not put a website on it. The domain is only a name. DNS is the setting that tells the world where that name should go.
There are two common ways to connect them. You can change the nameservers, which hands all of the domain's DNS to your hosting company. Or you can keep your nameservers and add records yourself.
An A record points the domain to a server's IP address. A CNAME record points a name such as www to another name. Your hosting company will tell you which values to use, so copy them exactly.
Be careful if you already have email on the domain. Changing nameservers can remove your MX records, and email then stops arriving. Note down your current records before you change anything.
Changes do not appear everywhere at once. Most take effect within a few hours, and some can take up to two days. During this time, some visitors may see the old site and others the new one.
After the site opens, check that the secure https address works, both with www and without it. Our free website migration check shows the address, nameservers and email settings your domain uses now.