WebsiteSettings
The settings behind a website

Website settings, explained in plain English

Clear explanations of DNS records, HTTPS certificates, redirects, robots.txt and sitemaps, speed settings, email authentication and social previews.

Guides

DNS Records Explained

Learn nameservers, A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, TTL, and DNS propagation, plus how to change web hosts without breaking email.

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HTTPS and SSL Certificates

Learn what TLS certificates prove, DV versus OV and EV, free auto-renewal, domain validation, mixed content, HTTPS redirects, and expiry checks.

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301 vs 302 Redirects

Choose 301, 302, 307, or 308 redirects for domain moves, www vs non-www, query strings, and avoid chains, with .htaccess examples.

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robots.txt and XML Sitemaps

Learn what robots.txt can and cannot do, noindex versus disallow, sitemap format, search console submission, and common crawl mistakes.

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Website Speed Settings

Speed up a site with caching headers, gzip and Brotli, image sizes, lazy loading, font choices, fewer scripts, and free measurement tools.

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Email Authentication with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with example DNS records, respect the SPF lookup limit, and move policy from none to quarantine or reject.

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Meta Tags, Favicons, and Social Previews

Set title and description, viewport, canonical URLs, Open Graph and Twitter cards, favicon sizes, a web app manifest, and test link previews.

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Where to start

Changing hosts or domains? Read DNS records explained and 301 vs 302 redirects. Emails landing in spam? See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Before you change anything

Write down or export your current settings first, change one thing at a time and test. DNS changes can take time to spread, and a wrong record can stop email or a website working.