The domain layer is the least glamorous part of a business's online presence and the one that causes the most expensive failures. When a certificate expires or a domain lapses, it does not degrade gracefully. The website goes down, email stops arriving, and anything that logs in through your domain stops working, usually on a Friday.
This check reads the public DNS and registry data for your domain and reports the handful of things that actually go wrong: expiry creeping up, a single point of failure in your nameservers, missing certificate protections, and redirects that split your site in two.
Check my domain- Domain expiry and registration age
- Nameservers and DNS redundancy
- DNSSEC and CAA certificate protection
- HTTPS and www redirect behaviour
- Mail routing and SSL certificate expiry
What actually happens when a domain expires?
Not a warning. Your website returns an error, your email stops being delivered anywhere, and depending on the extension you get a short grace period before the domain is released for anyone to register. Businesses have lost domains they had used for fifteen years because the renewal notice went to a staff member who left. The fix is thirty seconds of work: turn on auto-renewal, and make sure the registrar account uses an email address that is not on the domain itself.
Who should own the domain, me or my developer?
You, always, in your business name, in an account you control. This is the single most common way small businesses get held hostage. When the domain sits in an agency's account, changing supplier becomes a negotiation instead of a decision. If you cannot log in to your registrar today and see the domain listed, sort that out before anything else on this page.
What are DNSSEC and CAA, and do I need them?
DNSSEC signs your DNS answers so they cannot be forged, which prevents someone quietly pointing your domain at their server. CAA is a record naming which certificate authorities are allowed to issue certificates for your domain, so nobody else can obtain a valid certificate in your name. Neither is mandatory and most Australian small business domains have neither. Both are a few minutes at your registrar, and both matter more the more your business runs through that domain.
Does www or non-www matter for SEO?
Which one you choose does not matter at all. Choosing is what matters. If both yourbusiness.com.au and www.yourbusiness.com.au serve your site without redirecting to one another, search engines can treat them as two separate sites and split your ranking signals across both. Pick one, permanently redirect the other to it, and make sure your internal links and canonical tags agree.
Why do certificates keep expiring?
Because modern certificates are short-lived by design, typically ninety days, on the assumption that renewal is automated. When it is automated it is invisible. When somebody installed it by hand, or the automation broke quietly months ago, you find out when every visitor hits a full-page security warning. That is why this check reports the days remaining rather than a simple valid or invalid.
What a healthy domain looks like
None of these cost money beyond the domain itself.
| Signal | Healthy | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry | More than 60 days, auto-renew on | Expiry takes down site and email together |
| Nameservers | At least two, ideally diverse | One is a single point of failure |
| DNSSEC | Enabled | Stops forged DNS answers |
| CAA record | Present, naming your provider | Stops others issuing certificates for you |
| HTTP to HTTPS | 301 redirect on every URL | Security and duplicate content |
| www vs non-www | One redirects to the other | Otherwise ranking signals split |
| SSL certificate | More than 14 days, auto-renewing | Expiry shows every visitor a warning |
How to make your domain boring and reliable
-
1
Confirm you control the registrar account
Log in yourself. Make sure the domain is in your business name.
-
2
Turn on auto-renewal
And use a contact email that is not hosted on the domain it protects.
-
3
Use at least two nameservers
So one failure does not take everything offline.
-
4
Enable DNSSEC and add a CAA record
Both are a few minutes at your registrar or DNS provider.
-
5
Force HTTPS and pick a canonical hostname
Redirect http to https, and www to non-www or the reverse.
-
6
Monitor expiry and certificates
Calendar reminders at minimum. Automated monitoring is better.
Fair questions.
Why can you not see my .au expiry date?
The .au registry rate limits public lookups aggressively, so the answer is often unavailable. Everything else on this page is read directly from DNS and is accurate. Check the expiry date with your registrar, and turn on auto-renewal while you are there.
Is DNSSEC worth enabling on a small business domain?
It is a low-effort improvement rather than an urgent one. If your domain carries customer logins, payments or important email, enable it. If it is a brochure site, it is a nice-to-have that costs a few minutes.
What is a CAA record in plain English?
A note in your DNS saying "only this certificate authority may issue certificates for my domain". Without it, any authority in the world can, which is one route to someone impersonating your site convincingly.
Should I use my host's nameservers or something else?
Either works. Your host's nameservers are simplest. A dedicated DNS provider such as Cloudflare gives faster resolution, better resilience and an easier interface, and is usually free at small scale.
My domain and my hosting are with different companies. Is that a problem?
Not at all, it is common and often preferable. It means losing one supplier does not cost you both. You just need to know where each one lives, and keep both accounts in your own name.
What is the grace period if I forget to renew?
It varies by extension and registrar. Many offer a redemption window at a substantially higher fee, but it is not guaranteed and some domains are released quickly. Never rely on it.
Does changing nameservers cause downtime?
It should not if done carefully: replicate all existing records at the new provider first, then switch. Problems come from switching first and rebuilding records afterwards, which is exactly when email disappears.
How is this different from the email deliverability checker?
That one focuses on SPF, DKIM and DMARC, the records that decide whether your email reaches the inbox. This one covers the domain and DNS foundation underneath: expiry, nameservers, certificates and redirects. They are complementary.
Hosting, updates, backups, security and monthly changes, all handled, so your site stays fast and safe without you thinking about it.