You’ve just added a domain to your hosting account, or changed your domain’s nameservers. But when you visit it, you see a “DNS Resolution Error” page, a browser error saying the site can’t be found, or your old website instead of your new one.
This is normal for a new domain. Most domains start working within 24 hours, but it can take up to 72 hours before a domain works for everyone around the world. How long it takes depends on things outside of our control, like your internet provider and your location.
If you’re using your own domain name, don’t wait yet, though. First check that your domain is set up correctly, as explained below. A setup problem won’t fix itself, no matter how long you wait.
Why this happens
When you visit a website, your computer first looks up which server the domain points to, a bit like looking up a number in a phone book. This system is called DNS. To make websites load faster, computers, routers and internet providers remember the locations of domains for a while, instead of looking them up again every time.
When you add your domain to your account, we set it up on our side right away. But until the remembered locations expire, devices around the world keep using the old one. That might be your old host, a parked page, or nothing at all. Once those old answers expire, everyone gets the new one, and your website starts working everywhere.
This delay happens with every hosting provider, and there’s no way for us to speed it up. It only happens when the DNS of your domain changes, which is usually only when you’re changing providers. It doesn’t affect regular content updates to your website.
Check your domain setup first
If you’re using a free subdomain from us, there’s nothing for you to set up. You can skip to the next section.
If you’re using your own domain name, it needs to point to our servers before it can work. We recommend using our nameservers, but you can also keep your current nameservers and add the right DNS records there. We have separate articles explaining both options. These settings are managed at your domain registrar or DNS provider, not with us.
The members area checks this for you, in the Health Check section for your domain. It shows whether your domain has nameservers, whether they point to us, and if not, whether your DNS records point to the right IP address. If it shows a problem, fix it at your registrar or DNS provider first. The waiting time only starts once the settings are correct.
Seeing your website sooner
If you don’t want to wait, there are a few ways to see your website right away. Keep in mind that these only work on the device where you use them. Other people will still need to wait until the old answers expire for them.
The first is to clear the stored DNS answers on your computer, so it looks up your domain again. On Windows, open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns. On macOS, open Terminal and run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder. Then close your browser completely and try again.
The second is to use a different DNS server. Your internet provider’s DNS servers may hold on to old answers longer than others. You can switch your device or router to a public DNS server, like one of these:
- Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1
- Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
- OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Cloudflare has setup instructions for most devices.
The third option is more advanced: you can tell your computer exactly where your domain should point by editing your hosts file. You’ll need your account’s IP address, which you can find in the members area, and a guide to editing the hosts file. Remember to remove the line again once your domain works, or you won’t notice if something changes later.
If it still doesn’t work after 72 hours
If your domain still doesn’t work after 72 hours, waiting longer won’t help. Something else is going on, like a setup problem, or something on your side blocking the domain. Read “Why does my browser say my domain can’t be found?” to find out what the cause is and how to fix it.