How to Create a Subdomain and Point It to Your Website

What is a subdomain?

A subdomain is an address under your main domain, such as shop.example.com or help.example.com. Depending on your hosting setup, it can point to a separate website directory or application.

Check where DNS is managed

First identify the authoritative DNS provider for your domain. If the domain uses your hosting provider's nameservers, DNS may be managed in the hosting panel. If it uses external nameservers, add the required record with that DNS provider instead.

Create the subdomain

Sign in to your hosting control panel.
Open Domains or the subdomain-management feature. The label depends on your control-panel version.
Enter the subdomain label, such as shop, and select the parent domain.
Check the document root or destination directory.
Create the subdomain.
If DNS is managed separately, add the required record at the authoritative DNS provider, using the target value supplied by your host.

Do not change the nameservers for the whole domain just to create one subdomain unless you intend to move DNS management for the entire domain.

Test the subdomain

Wait for DNS changes to take effect. Upload a test page or configure the application in the assigned directory. Enable SSL for the subdomain if your hosting plan supports it.

If it does not work

Check the spelling of the subdomain and parent domain.
Confirm the DNS record exists at the authoritative provider.
Verify the document root and the files in the target directory.
Allow for DNS caching and certificate issuance time.
If the panel reports an error, contact support with the subdomain and exact error message.