Domain Glossary
Squarespace Domains helps your customers let people know where to find them using one or multiple domains. Browse common terms below to learn what you need to know about domain registry, management, and settings.
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Domain Reseller
An organization enabled to register domains on behalf of a Registrar. Partners who sell Squarespace Domains are Domain Resellers.
ICANN
The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the governing body of the domains industry.Registry
The entity that owns and manages the top-level domain (TLD) inventory.Registrar
An ICANN-approved entity that registers and sells domain names to the customer. Squarespace is a Domains Registrar.Registrant
The customer who purchases the domain.
SQSP
An abbreviation for Squarespace. -
DNS
Domain Name System. This is a service that provides a naming system for IP addresses.
DNS Record
Instructions that servers use to direct visitors to a domain, send emails to custom email addresses, and more.
Domain
The name for a physical IP address on the internet registered with a Domain Name System (DNS). A domain is not always attached to a website.
TLD
A top-level domain (TLD) is the final section of a domain. The most populartop-level domains are the ones that existed first and are most familiar to customers: .com, .net, and .org.Generic top-level domains (known as gTLDs) are newer TLDs that are broadly relevant, like .store.
Country code TLDs (ccTLDs) have geographic requirements, like .uk, for example.
Nameserver
A server in the DNS that translates domain names into IP addresses.
WHOIS privacy
An internet record that lists information about domains such as domain owner contact information. By default, Squarespace domains are private so customers don't have to update their privacy settings. -
You most likely will not need to programmatically adjust any domain settings for the domains you sell. However, you may find that adjusting a specific setting or two will simplify set up for your customers. For this reason, Squarespace has made most domain settings available via API.
The Domain Name System (DNS) maps the domain name to the physical IP address of the computer or server hosting the website. The DNS settings are used to adjust records for different purposes:
Mail Exchange (MX) Record directs the email address associated with a domain to the server hosting the domain.
Canonical Name (CNAME) Record directs an alias name to the canonical domain name. For example, www.squarespace.com may direct to squarespace.com.
An Address (A) Record directs a domain to the IP address of a computer hosting the domain’s services.
A Name Server (NS) identifies the server(s) that will communicate DNS information for a given domain
The WHOIS directory is a public catalog of all registered domain names and the associated registrants. Squarespace offers WHOIS privacy for free on all domains to mask the personal information of the registrant.