Everything you need to know about domain names

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the address of your website and your email, for example company.com. It is a name that is easy for people to remember, instead of the numeric addresses (IP addresses) computers use to find each other.

A domain name consists of parts separated by dots, read from right to left:

• Top-level domain – the last part, after the last dot. In company.se it is .se. Also called the ending or TLD.
• The domain name – the name you choose and register, here company.
• Subdomain – everything left of the domain name, such as www in www.company.se or shop in shop.company.se. You create subdomains freely once you own the domain.

How does a domain work?

When someone types your address, their computer asks the Domain Name System, DNS, where the domain is. DNS answers with the server’s address, and the browser fetches the website from there. In the same way DNS says where email to the domain is delivered. See DNS – how it works.

You never buy a domain forever. You register it for a period – usually a year at a time – and renew it for as long as you want to keep it.

How to choose a good domain name

Your domain name appears on business cards, in email addresses and in search results for many years. Some things to consider:

• Short and easy to spell. A name you can say on the phone without spelling it out is worth a lot.
• Your company name first. If it is available, it is usually the best choice – it is what customers search for.
• Keywords can help, but a clear brand weighs more than a name stuffed with keywords.
• Avoid hyphens if you can. They are easy to forget when someone types the address.
• Å, ä and ö work in .se and several other endings, but not every email system handles them. Register both variants if the name has Swedish characters – for example bröd.se and brod.se.
• Protect the name. Register the most common spellings and endings, so nobody else takes them.

A domain name may contain letters, digits and hyphens, but may not start or end with a hyphen, and each part may be at most 63 characters.

Search for an available domain name – you see at once which endings are free.

Which top-level domain should I choose?

The ending says something about who you are and where you are. For most Swedish businesses the answer is simple: .se, with .com as a complement.

The ending does not in itself affect your Google ranking, but a .se signals that you target Sweden, which helps local searches.

See prices for all endings.

Registering a domain name

Registering a domain takes only a few minutes:

1. Search for the name and choose the endings you want.
2. Add the domain to your order, perhaps together with hosting or email.
3. Fill in the holder’s details – the person or company that will own the domain – and pay.

Right after the order the domain is registered with the ending’s registry. From then on it is yours, and nobody else can register the same name. You can see and manage it in My pages.

What details are needed?

• The holder’s name – company name or your own name.
• Company or personal ID number (required for .se among others).
• Address, email address and phone number.

The details must be correct – they are what shows the domain is yours. See Domain holder and contact details.

Transferring a domain name

If you have a domain with another provider you can move it. The domain is still yours – only the provider managing it changes.

How it works

1. Get the auth code from your current provider. Also called EPP code or authorisation code, it works as a password for the transfer.
2. Make sure the domain is unlocked for transfer and not about to expire.
3. Start the transfer with us and enter the code. We handle the rest and let you know when it is done.

For some endings, such as .com, a domain cannot be moved in the first 60 days after it was registered or moved. For many endings the registration is also extended by a year on transfer.

What happens to the website and email?

The transfer itself does not affect the website or email – as long as DNS keeps pointing right. Traffic moves when the name servers change. If you have email on the domain today, plan the move so the email DNS records (MX) are in place before the name servers are changed.

Never hand out the password to your old provider’s control panel. The auth code is enough.

Move your domain to Sweden Sites – free of charge. Step by step in the help centre: Moving a domain to Sweden Sites (in Swedish).

DNS – how it works

DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet’s address book. It turns domain names into server addresses and says where a domain’s website and email are. The settings are made with DNS records:

Name servers

The name servers decide where the DNS records live. Changing them moves all DNS management to another provider – also a way to use our hosting without moving the domain. See our DNS servers (in Swedish).

Why do changes take time?

DNS servers around the world keep answers for a while, according to the record’s TTL (time to live). A change applies at once on the domain’s own name servers, but it can take up to a day before everyone has stopped using the old answer.

See all records with the DNS lookup, and follow a change with DNS propagation.

Email on your own domain

With your own domain you get email addresses like name@company.com instead of an address at Gmail or Hotmail. It looks professional, and the address stays even if you change email provider.

How it ties in with DNS

When someone sends email to your address, the sender’s server asks for the domain’s MX records, which say which server receives the email. With Microsoft 365, for example, the MX record points at Microsoft’s servers.

For email from the domain to arrive and not end up as spam, you also need:

• SPF – a TXT record listing which servers may send email in the domain’s name.
• DKIM – a digital signature showing the email was not changed on the way.
• DMARC – tells receivers what to do with email that fails SPF and DKIM.

The DNS lookup shows at once whether MX, SPF and DMARC are set up right. Read about Microsoft 365 with email on your own domain.

SSL and HTTPS

An SSL certificate (strictly TLS) lets the website be shown over HTTPS. Everything sent between the visitor and the website is then encrypted, and the visitor can trust it really is your website.

• Without HTTPS, browsers show “Not secure” in the address bar, and forms and logins can be intercepted.
• Google prefers websites with HTTPS.
• A certificate is valid for a set time and must be renewed. If it expires, visitors get a security warning.
• A certificate covers certain names. company.se and www.company.se are two names that must both be included.

Our web hosting includes SSL certificates that renew automatically. Check any website with the SSL check.

Renewing and cancelling domains

A domain is registered for a period, usually a year, and then renewed year by year. Renewal costs the same as registration.

If the domain expires

If the domain is not renewed it stops working when it expires: the website and email on the domain stop answering. During a grace period – which varies between endings, for .se about 60 days – the holder can often still renew it. After that the domain is deleted and free for anyone to register.

Never let a domain you use expire. Expired domains are often registered by others the moment they are released.

Cancelling a domain

If you no longer want a domain, cancel it before the next renewal. It stays valid for the period and is then not renewed. Email and website on the domain stop working when it expires. You manage renewal and cancellation in My pages.

See when a domain expires with the WHOIS lookup.

Domain holder and contact details

Whoever is listed as holder (registrant) in the registry legally owns the domain – not whoever pays the invoice, and not the agency that helped with the website.

• Register the domain to the right holder. A company’s domain should be in the company’s name, not an employee’s or a consultant’s.
• Keep the details current. Registries may suspend domains with incorrect details, and the holder’s email is used for important changes.
• Changing holder – for example when a company is sold – is a separate change that often needs both parties’ approval.

As our customer you see and change the holder’s contact details in My pages.

WHOIS and domain details

WHOIS is the registries’ public lookup service for domains. Anyone can see:

• whether the domain is registered or available,
• which registrar it is registered through,
• when it was registered, last changed and expires,
• its status, for example whether it is locked against transfer,
• the name servers and whether DNSSEC is used.

Personal data about private domain owners is normally not shown – it is protected by the GDPR. For companies the organisation name is sometimes shown.

Look up any domain with the WHOIS lookup.

Frequently asked questions about domains

More frequently asked questions about domains