Digital marketing term
Home Directory
The folder on a hosting account that the web server treats as the site’s public root—often named public_html, www, or htdocs. Files dropped in the wrong folder never appear at the domain.
Detailed explanation
When someone opens your domain, the server looks in this directory for an index file. CMS installs, robots.txt, and certificate challenge files belong here; FTP or the control-panel file manager is how you reach it.
The usual mistake is nesting the site one folder too deep, or uploading into a different account’s root after a migration. Config and backups should sit outside the public root so they are not downloadable.
After a move, confirm the expected index sits at the root—not in a subfolder—and that the domain actually points at that hosting account.
Frequently asked questions
- Where should website files be uploaded?
- Into the document root your host names for the account, usually public_html, www, or htdocs—not a nested folder unless you want a subdirectory site.
- Why would the domain 404 after files are uploaded?
- The index file is often one level too deep, or FTP landed in a different home. Check the path against the panel’s document root.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- HostingThe service that keeps a site’s files, database, and mail on a machine reachable from the internet. A domain does nothing until DNS points it at that server.
- FTPAn older protocol for moving files between a computer and a server. Themes and backups still travel this way; classic FTP can send passwords in the clear.
- DomainThe name people type and see in the address bar: brand word plus extension. Email, TLS, and canonical URLs hang off it; swapping it on a whim splits every signal.
- HTMLThe markup a browser uses to build a page’s structure: headings, paragraphs, links, and forms. CSS paints it and JavaScript makes it interactive; markup itself is not a programming language.
- CMSSoftware that separates content from code so editors can ship pages, images, and URLs as HTML. You should not need an FTP login for every glossary update.
- SSLThe certificate layer that encrypts traffic between browser and server; in practice you see TLS and HTTPS. The padlock is a trust cue, and HTTPS is a light ranking signal as well.