Your internet service provider (ISP) assigns a numeric identifier, called the Internet Protocol (IP) address, which identifies you amongst billions of others. Think of an IP address as your phone number, because devices use IPs to find and communicate with each other.

Generally, this is how an IP address functions. Firstly, you type in a domain name, such as greengeeks.com into the browser. Despite what you may think, your computer doesn't understand words, only numbers. So when you type in a domain name, a DNS server translates the request from words to numbers and then finally loads the information on your device.