What happens when you type "google.com" into your web browser and press Enter

networkdevopssysadmintechnologyinternet

Thu Dec 15 2022

FrosDev

FrosDev

When you type "google.com" into your web browser and press Enter, you are essentially asking your computer to find and display the website that is associated with that domain name. But how does your computer know where to find the website and how to display it?

To understand this, it's helpful to know that every website on the internet has a unique address called an IP address. An IP address is a string of numbers that is used to identify a particular computer or server on the internet. When you type a domain name into your browser, your computer needs to know the corresponding IP address in order to access the website.

Here's a closer look at what happens when you type a domain name into your browser and press Enter:

  • Your computer sends a request to your internet service provider (ISP) to establish a connection to the internet. This involves sending a signal through your modem and out onto the internet via your ISP's servers.

  • Once the connection is established, your browser sends a request to the domain name system (DNS) server to resolve the domain name "google.com" into an IP address. The DNS server is essentially a directory that translates domain names into IP addresses, which are numerical labels that are assigned to every device connected to the internet.

  • The DNS server responds with the IP address of the Google website, which is then used by your browser to send a request for the website's content to the Google server.

  • The Google server receives the request and responds by sending back the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that make up the Google website. These files contain the code that determines the layout and appearance of the website, as well as any interactive elements such as buttons and forms.

  • Your browser receives these files and uses them to render the website on your screen. Any images or other resources that are needed to display the website are also requested and loaded at this point.

  • Once the website has finished loading, you are able to interact with it and browse through its pages.

As you can see, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than just typing a domain name into your browser and pressing Enter. But thanks to the many technologies and protocols that work together, you are able to access and navigate the internet with ease.

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