Your site's domain is like its street address; it lets other people find it. Setting up your site domain is very important as it allows people to visit your sites. While our site builder does not host your domains, you can purchase a domain and connect it to your published site by creating a CNAME and two A records in your DNS settings.
Go Live
Taking your site live requires publishing your site, setting up your domain, and setting up your domain through your domain host.
Publish a Site
For your site to show up at any domain, you first need to publish it. To publish your site:
- In your editor, on the top right, click Publish. If your site was previously published, click Republish.
- A payment page appears. Select a plan, and continue.
Set up a Domain
After a site is published, you are prompted to select from one of the following three domain options:
- Default Domain. This is a domain hosted by Website Builder, and is not good for your site’s SEO. The URL will be a subdomain of Website Builder’s with your custom naming. You may use the original default domain.
Purchase a new domain for your site. Purchase a domain from IONOS. When you type your domain into the field, a menu appears with suggestions. This domain will already be set up to work with Website Builder. For more detailed instructions, see Purchase a Custom Domain.
Use a domain you already own (make sure you added "www." to the URL). You may use a domain that you already own from the domain host you purchased it from. Ensure you add "www." to the URL. If you choose to use your own domain, continue to Set up your Domain in your Domain Host.
Set up your Domain in your Domain Host
If you chose to use the Default Domain or to Purchase a new domain for your site, you do not need to set up your domain with your domain host.
If you chose to use a domain you already own, after setting up your domain in Website Builder, complete the following:
- To connect your domain to your site, click Continue.
- Website Builder searches for your domain host provider, and prompts you to log in with your provider (for example, GoDaddy).
- Type your login credentials for your domain host provider, and click Continue.
- Alternatively, if you do not own the login credentials, click Forward login to a colleague. Copy the link provided and send to a colleague to complete the setup.
- You will receive a confirmation message that your domain is now configured. Click Done.
Domain Host Provider Not Found
If you domain host provider was not found, you must configure your domain manually by adding two A records and a CNAME record to your domain host settings.
Click to copy the records and add them to your domain host. When you have finished, select the I have added the records above to my domain checkbox, and then click Continue.
Use the following information for the CNAME record and A records:
CNAME
- Host: www
- Points to: s.multiscreensite.com
A Records
- First A Record:
- Host/Alias: @
- Target/Destination: 35.172.94.1
- Second A Record:
- Host/Alias: @
- Target/Destination: 100.24.208.97
Two A Records are used for server balance and redundancy.
Examples
The following is an example from Google Domains, in which they use one A record with two IP addresses:
The following is an example from GoDaddy, in which they use two A records (one for each IP):
Domain Host Providers
Website Builder searches most large domain host providers, and we are continually adding more domain host providers. To see a list of supported providers, see the documentation.