From Domain Purchase to Rendering: A Brief Explanation of How Websites Work

If SEO is the process of optimizing a website for online searches, then SEO folks must know the basics of how websites really work. This article seeks to provide you a quick and simple explanation about websites and their journey from domain purchase to rendering.

The Whys

Let us start with why a basic understanding of the technicalities behind websites is necessary for someone to perform SEO. For one, the way you build a webpage can drastically affect its loading time. According to SEO experts in Hong Kong, loading speed is not only important in making your visitors stay on your site but also a key ranking factor among search engines.

In addition, resources such as JavaScript only serve as a second pass to Google. The search engine will first look into the page without JavaScript, which will then be rendered some time later on. This means important SEO factors incorporated to the page through JavaScript may not be indexed.

The Hows

Setting up a website involves a number of processes. Here’s a short summary of how the entire building process happens.

Domain Purchase. Domain names are bought from domain name registrars like GoDaddy and HostGator. The companies are responsible in managing the reservations of the chosen name, making sure that it is unique and exclusive to the buyer.

IP Address Linking. After purchase, the domain name must be linked to an IP address. Domain name servers (DNS) play an important role here. The Internet is not designed to understand names such as “yourbusiness.com.” Instead, it uses a series of numbers known as the Internet Protocol (IP) address such as 127.0.0.2. The domain name is basically for the human users to remember the website. DNS serves as the link between the human-readable words and the machine-readable digits.

Domain Request by Users. Now how does a website get from a server to a browser? Once the domain is linked to an IP address through a DNS, users can now request a website. They can do this either by typing the domain name into the browser or by accessing it through a link.

Browser’s Request. Once a request for a web page is made, the browser will perform a DNS lookup request to instantly translate the domain name to its IP address. Then, the browser will request the server to provide the code from which the page is built such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Webpage Assembly. Once the server has sent the resources, the browser will assemble and render the web page so that the users can view it. As the browser does this, it creates a Document Object Model (DOM), which is what you will see when you click on “Inspect Element.”

Website Access. After the codes are downloaded, parsed, and assembled, the browser may need to request some more codes so that you can view the website. Once the rendering is finished, the website will appear in browser.

Also read the article for: Why You Badly Need the Help of a Digital Marketing Agency

This is just a simple and short guide to the things SEO specialists have to master in order to optimize websites. Learn more by asking an SEO expert near you.

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