What “propagation” really means
DNS changes are not pushed out. Your provider updates its authoritative servers straight away. Every resolver that cached the old answer keeps it until the record’s TTL runs out, then asks again. “Propagation” is simply waiting for those caches to expire.
Reading the results
- Authoritative – the answer straight from the domain’s name servers. This is the truth.
- Matches – the resolver already returns the same answer.
- Differs – it still holds an older cached value. Check again after the TTL shown.
- No record – the resolver found nothing. For a brand‑new name it may have cached that negative answer.
Speed up future changes
A day before a planned move, lower the TTL on the records you will change, to 300 seconds for example. Put it back up once the move is done.