Just like you have your own physical Address; websites also have their own unique places dwelling places on the internet. Yes, just like anyone with the right information or coordinates can locate where you live, anyone with the right information can also find the location of your website on the internet.

Now while your physical address might look like this: No 10 Downing Street, London, England, your address on the World Wide Web address will look like this: 78.125.230.84 and this is known as your Internet Protocol (IP) address. Your IP address is a numerical label that networks use to identify and locate your connected devices— computers, phones, printers, tablets and every other device that can connect to an online network.

Device tracking is a phenomenon that has been made possible largely because of these unique combinations of numbers. IPs generally consists of four strings of numerical characters with a dot in between. You have to be aware of the workings of your IP if you are to run your site effectively. Your site won’t run if it isn’t connected to your domain. The IPv4 and IPv6 are the IP systems that a website can belong to presently. The IPv6 is a secondary IP system designed to make room for the consistently increasing number of people connecting to the internet.

How to look up your IP address?

If your computer or device is directly connected to a switch or gateway provided by your ISP, you will get a public IP address that can be located by carrying out a simple Google search. If you are connected to the internet via a router within your home network, your router will give your device a private online address and you will obtain a public IP from your ISP.

The process for IP detection varies among hosting companies but there are some general guidelines:

• Using a domain name system (DNS checker): A DNS is the internet’s way of converting alphabetic names into numeric IP addresses. Websites like whatsmydns.net and digitalwebinterface.com will allow you to gather and view your website’s IP address. This works if your website has already gone live.
• If your website has not gone live, your web hosting platform will make it possible to view the IP address on your home page. You should ensure you opt for a hosting platform that enables this feature. Regardless of whether you are a techie or an IT buff, arming yourself with knowledge of your IP address across all of your devices is always a smart thing to do. You can never tell when all of that information will come in handy.

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