Each time you update DNS (Domain Name System) records in your domain's zone file, the rest of the Internet must catch up to the changes. This period of catching up is known as propagation. Usually DNS changes will propagate within a few hours, but it can take up to 48 hours for everything to propagate across the Internet. Many things affect propagation time, including your TTL, your ISP and your domain's registry.
- Your TTL (Time to Live) settings: Every DNS record has a TTL setting. TTL is the amount of time servers cache the information for your DNS records. For example, if you set the TTL for a particular record to one hour, servers store the information for that record locally for an hour before retrieving updated information from your nameservers. Shorter TTL settings may increase propagation speed. However, they can also increase the number of times your nameserver is queried, decreasing your site's performance.
- Your ISP (Internet Service Provider): Your ISP caches DNS records by storing the data locally rather than retrieving fresh data from your DNS server. This speeds up web browsing and reduces traffic, but may slow your propagation time. Some ISPs ignore TTL settings and only update their cached records every two to three days.
- Your domain's registry: When you change the nameservers on your domain, we send your change request to the domain registry within minutes, and they publish your NS (nameserver) records to their root zone.
Most registries update their zones promptly, but some can take several hours or even days.
In most cases, your DNS updates will propagate within a few hours. Due to these factors out of our control, however, you should allow up to 48 hours for any DNS changes to fully propagate across the Internet. If it's been more than 48 hours and your changes aren't reflecting correctly, there may be a different cause of the issue, such as incorrect DNS settings.
