New Domain Monitoring Setup Checklist

When you register a new domain and launch a site on it, monitoring is one of those tasks that's easy to defer — and then forget. This checklist covers everything to configure when setting up monitoring for a new domain so you start with complete coverage rather than discovering gaps after an incident.

The entire setup takes 10–15 minutes in Domain Monitor.

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Uptime Monitoring

• Add your homepage as an HTTP monitor

  • URL: https://yourdomain.com
  • Expected status: 200
  • Content check: your brand name or a key phrase from the page
  • Check interval: 5 minutes to start; 1 minute for high-traffic or revenue-critical sites

• Add your most important pages

  • Signup or account creation page
  • Pricing page (if applicable)
  • Contact page (if you depend on enquiries)
  • Any landing pages running paid traffic

• Add a health check endpoint (if your site has a backend)

  • URL: https://yourdomain.com/health or equivalent
  • Expected status: 200
  • Content check: "status":"ok" or similar
  • See how to set up uptime monitoring for health check implementation

• Add your API endpoint (if applicable)

  • Authentication or core API endpoint
  • Expected status: 200

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SSL Certificate Monitoring

• Add SSL monitoring for your primary domain

  • Domain: yourdomain.com
  • Alert threshold: 30 days before expiry (60 days preferred)

• Add SSL monitoring for www subdomain (if you use it)

• Add SSL monitoring for any other active subdomains

  • api.yourdomain.com
  • app.yourdomain.com
  • mail.yourdomain.com
  • Any subdomain serving HTTPS traffic to users

• Verify the certificate is currently valid and the chain is complete. See what is SSL certificate monitoring

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Domain Expiry Monitoring

• Add domain expiry monitoring

  • Alert threshold: 60 days before expiry at minimum

• Confirm auto-renew is enabled at your registrar

• Verify the payment card on file is current

• Check that the registrant email address is monitored — renewal notices go there. See why domain auto-renew fails

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DNS Monitoring

• Enable DNS record change monitoring for your domain

  • Covers A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, TXT, NS records
  • Alerts immediately on any record change

• Enable nameserver change monitoring — NS record changes are the highest-priority security signal. See how to monitor nameserver changes

• Record your baseline DNS records — document current nameservers, A records, MX records so you have a reference to compare against

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Alert Configuration

• Add your primary alert contact — email address for all monitors

• Add a phone number for SMS alerts on critical monitors — email is too slow for active incidents. See SMS alerts

• Add a backup contact — at least one other person who receives downtime alerts

• Enable recovery alerts — be notified when the site comes back up, not just when it goes down

• Set up Slack notifications if your team uses Slack. See Slack notifications

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Test Everything

• Test that alerts actually deliver — send a test notification from your monitoring dashboard and confirm receipt on all channels
• Verify monitors are actively checking — look for recent check results in your dashboard
• Confirm content checks are passing — not just status codes
• Check SSL monitor shows the correct expiry date
• Check domain expiry monitor shows the correct renewal date

See how to test your website monitoring setup for a complete testing guide.

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Optional: Status Page

• Create a public status page if you have users who should be able to check your service status. See how to create a public status page
• Link your status page from your site footer or help documentation

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Quick Reference: Minimum Viable Monitoring

If you need to get something in place immediately and expand later:

Priority	Monitor	Why
1	Homepage uptime	Core availability
2	SSL certificate	Prevents browser warnings
3	Domain expiry	Prevents total blackout
4	Email + SMS alerts	Fast notification

Everything else can follow once the minimum is covered.

Domain Monitor covers all of the above from a single dashboard. Create a free account.

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Related Articles

• Website Launch Monitoring Checklist
• How to Set Up Uptime Monitoring
• How to Test Your Website Monitoring Setup
• Monthly Website Uptime Audit Checklist