Connect a custom domain without fearing DNS
Route a memorable name to your site while preserving email and recovery access.
Identify the three separate systems
The registrar records ownership and renewal. DNS tells services where traffic goes. The website host serves the site. One company may provide all three, but the responsibilities remain separate.
Know where each account lives before changing anything.
The domain is registered at one provider, DNS is managed by Cloudflare, and the website is hosted by the builder.
Transferring the domain just because you are changing website builders.
Copy only the records the host requests
A host commonly asks for A, AAAA, CNAME, or TXT records. Enter the name and value exactly. Remove only records the host identifies as conflicting.
Preserve MX and email-related TXT records unless the email provider instructs otherwise.
The root domain may use A records while www uses a CNAME. The host should document the required pattern.
Replacing the entire DNS zone to solve one website-routing problem.
Verify every public version of the address
Test the root domain, www, HTTPS, and the preferred redirect. Confirm canonical URLs match the preferred hostname and no certificate warning appears.
DNS changes can take time because prior answers are cached.
https://www.example.com redirects once to https://example.com and every internal canonical uses the latter.
Testing only the builder-provided subdomain and assuming the custom domain is finished.