What should you know about IP addresses

If you are new to the Internet, often times things can seem quite overwhelming. People throw around terms like IP addresses, server names, hosting, ftp, etc.

In this article we will deal with IP addresses. You will learn exactly what they are and how they apply to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

IP stands for Internet Protocol Address and is currently composed of four "octets" or numbers separated by periods. Each octet can be a 0-255 number

Some examples of valid IP addresses are - 1,123,150,243, 35.35.36.10, 240.216.1.80

There is also a new standard for IP addresses that is slowly being launched called IPv6 (IP version 6). IPV6 numbers look quite different from our current IP addresses.

An example of an IPv6 IP address is - 2001:0 db8: 85a3: 08d3: 1319:8 a2e: 0370:7334

You will note each is much longer with many more possible variations. The new IP system is designed to give us enough IP addresses so that you do not run out of unique IP addresses at any time in the near future.

So why do we need IP addresses? Quite simply, an IP address is like your physical home address. It designates a specific computer that is connected to the Internet. Every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address. This is necessary for it to send and receive information.

When you type a site name, for my example, http://www.sesecrets.com that name is translated into an IP address which is then used to "find" my site. In the current set of IP addresses, ranging from left to right, the first "octet" is the largest, with each subsequent octet increasingly granular or specific.

To explain that a little 'better.

134 - is very large

134.125 - is still quite large, but more and more specific

134,125,244 - is more specific and probably refers to a specific web host.

134.125.244.1 - as specific as you can get and refers to a specific computer

We often hear different classes such as class A, class B and class C talked about when it comes to IP addresses. Below I have given some examples of what people refer to when we talk about classes.

Class A

134.XXX.XXX.XXX

240.XXX.XXX.XXX

22.XXX.XXX.XXX

Class B

134.254.XXX.XXX

36.36.XXX.XXX

36.37.XXX.XXX

Class C

254.210.135.XXX

36.36.1.XXX

36.36.2.XXX

It is often easier to think of IP addresses as physical addresses, with the Class A octet are similar to country, Class B, being a city in that country, is a Class C road in that city, and the last octet being a specific house that road.

So, looking above you should be able to see that when some talk of a class A IP address refer to the first "octet" and when they say that there are two Class A IP addresses on different subnets, it simply means that the first set of numbers are different.

Thus, for example

255,123,124,255

34,123,124,255

Are Class A is different. While the rest of the IP addresses are the same, because they are different class, are far apart (remember, Class A is the largest).

The same applies to the class B. Class B refers to the second octet of numbers. When someone says that two IP addresses are Class B is different simply means that the second octet of each IP is different. The IP may be on the same Class A or can be different, but the second octet of numbers is different. To better explain ... see below.

255,123,124,255

255.34.124.255

34.34.124.255

In the above example, the first two IP addresses are on the same Class A, Class B but is different. The third IP address, has the same number of Class B (34), but because the first octet is different, is also on a different class B (as with physical addresses, two countries may have the names of the cities themselves, but are still different cities).

For class C we are looking at the third octet.

255,123,124,255

255.123.34.255

34.42.124.255

Again, the first two above are on different Class C, while the third has the same number of class C as the first, but is first and second octets are different, then is also a different class C.

I hope the above is because of you. I tried to give lots of examples to clarify, no matter what your tech background.

The good news is that you almost never have to mess with IP addresses. When you get a web hosting account for your domain name, your guest will be assigned the domain name with an IP address. They often do not even have to know. Usually your host will create all this for you without having to understand anything. From then on, when someone types your domain name, the name will then be converted to your assigned IP address and voila ... the visitor winds up at your site.

I will discuss some of the basics, what other web hosting accounts, nameservers, etc. in later articles.

See you at the top! ...