How to Connect Your Own Domain to Google Sites

Every published Google Site gets a free address that starts with sites.google.com/view/. If you own a domain name, you can use it instead, so visitors reach your site at an address like www.yourbusiness.com.

Connecting a domain you own is free. Google does not charge for it, and hosting stays free as well. The only cost is the domain itself, which you pay to your domain registrar.

Before you start

Check these four points first. Most problems come from one of them.

• You own a domain. If you do not have one yet, buy it from any domain registrar. You will need to be able to log in to the registrar's account to change DNS records.
• You are the owner of the site. Only the site's owner can connect a domain. Editors cannot. If someone else created the site, ask them to do the setup or to transfer ownership to you.
• The address must include a subdomain such as www. Google Sites connects to addresses like www.yourbusiness.com or shop.yourbusiness.com. It does not connect directly to the bare domain yourbusiness.com. See Make the address work without www below for the usual fix.
• Your site is published. Publish the site first so there is something for the domain to point to. See How to publish a Google Site and share it.

Step 1: Open the custom domain settings

1. Open your site in the Google Sites editor on a computer.
2. In the top right, click Settings (the gear icon).
3. In the settings window, click Custom domains.
4. Click Start setup.

Step 2: Enter your domain

1. Choose the option to use a domain from a third party. This is the right choice for a domain you bought from any registrar.
2. Type the full address including the subdomain, for example www.yourbusiness.com.
3. Click Next.

Step 3: Verify that you own the domain

Google needs proof that the domain belongs to you. If you have never verified this domain with Google before, the setup asks you to verify it now.

1. Follow the verify your ownership link shown in the setup window.
2. Select your domain registrar from the list, or choose Other if it is not listed.
3. Google shows you a TXT record, a line of text that begins with google-site-verification=. Copy it.
4. In a new tab, log in to your domain registrar and open the DNS settings for your domain. Depending on the registrar this is called DNS, DNS records, Zone editor or Advanced DNS.
5. Add a new record with these values:

6. Save the record, go back to the Google verification page and click Verify.

If verification fails on the first try, wait a few minutes and click Verify again. New DNS records are not visible everywhere immediately.

Leave the TXT record in place after verification. Removing it later can cause Google to un-verify the domain.

Step 4: Add the CNAME record at your registrar

The CNAME record is what actually sends visitors of your domain to your Google Site.

1. Return to your registrar's DNS settings.
2. Add a new record with these values:

3. If a record for www already exists (many registrars create a "parked page" record by default), delete or replace it. A subdomain can only have one CNAME record.
4. Save the record.
5. Go back to the Google Sites setup window and finish the setup.

Step 5: Wait for the change to take effect

DNS changes spread across the internet gradually. Your domain may start working within minutes, but changes can take up to 48 hours.

During that time you might see an error page, your registrar's placeholder page, or a browser security warning. That is normal while the records propagate and while the security certificate for your domain is being issued. Your free sites.google.com/view/… address keeps working throughout, and it continues to work after the domain is connected.

Make the address work without www

Because Google Sites needs a subdomain, someone who types yourbusiness.com without www will not reach your site unless you forward them.

Set up domain forwarding (sometimes called a URL redirect) at your registrar:

• Forward from: yourbusiness.com
• Forward to: https://www.yourbusiness.com
• Type: permanent (301)

Most registrars include forwarding at no extra cost. Look for "Forwarding", "Redirect" or "URL redirect" in the domain's settings.

Troubleshooting

The Custom domains option is missing or greyed out. You are probably not the owner of the site. Only the owner can connect a domain. With a work or school Google account, your organization's administrator may also control whether custom addresses are allowed.

Google says the domain is not verified. Check that the TXT record was saved exactly as given, with no extra spaces or quotation marks, then try again after a few minutes.

The domain shows an error after 48 hours. Look at the CNAME record again. The host must be only the subdomain (www, not www.yourbusiness.com on most registrars), and the target must be ghs.googlehosted.com. Also check that no second record exists for the same subdomain.

www.yourbusiness.com works but yourbusiness.com does not. Set up the forwarding described in the section above.

The domain is already used by another Google service. An address can point to only one place. Remove it from the other service or pick a different subdomain.

Summary

Google updates its interface from time to time, so the position or wording of a button may differ slightly from what is described here.