Select theme:
A CNAME (Canonical Name) Record acts as an alias or "nickname" for another domain. Instead of pointing a domain to an IP address, it points to another domain name.
Why use a CNAME instead of an A Record?
No. A CNAME record must always point to another domain name (e.g., ghs.googlehosted.com), never a numerical IP address. To point to an IP, you must use an A Record.
This happens when one CNAME points to another CNAME, which points to another. While technically possible, it is bad practice because it slows down your website by forcing the browser to perform multiple DNS lookups before it even finds the IP address.
No, CNAMEs do not directly impact your search rankings. However, if a CNAME chain is too long, it can slow down your page load time, which is a ranking factor for Google.
According to DNS standards (RFC 1034), a CNAME record cannot coexist with other records on the same name. Since your root domain must have an SOA and NS record, adding a CNAME there would break your DNS. For root domains, use an A record or an ALIAS record if your provider supports it.
Try UptimeObserver today. Setup in 2 minutes.