Adding your domain

Putting your site at an address you own, like yourname.com, one step at a time, with the site telling you when each step has worked.

Your site always works at its Yoursellf address, like yourname.yoursellf.com. If you own a domain, you can put the site there too. The Yoursellf address keeps working, so nothing you have shared breaks.

You need the domain already bought, and a login at the company that manages its DNS. That is usually where you bought it, but not always; step 2 tells you which.

The whole thing is: tell your site the domain, then copy two to five records into your domain company's DNS page. Your site checks them every 30 seconds while the page is open, and every 15 minutes after you close it, and emails you when the domain is live. Nothing you do here can take your email down, and if there is a website at the domain already it stays up until the last step.

1. Tell your site the domain

Open Content → Settings → Domain. Type the domain on its own, like yourname.com. No www, no https://.

Press Save. Your site looks at the domain to see what is there now, and says which of two ways it will come over:

There is a site there now, even an old one you are replacing. It stays up while your domain is proved to be yours and a certificate is issued, and moves at the very last step. You get a few proof records first.
Nothing is there yet, or only a "this domain is parked" page. It points straight here, with two records.

Your site now shows the list of records. Each has a Host and a Value, with a copy button on both.

2. Find your DNS page

Within half a minute your site looks up who answers for your domain and says so above the records: Add these at Namecheap, or GoDaddy, or Cloudflare. That is where the records go, and it is not always where you bought the domain. If you bought at GoDaddy and later moved your DNS to Cloudflare, they go in Cloudflare.

Sign in there and find the page with your domain's DNS records. Every company calls the two boxes something slightly different. The first is the Host; the second is the Value.

| Company | Where | What they call the boxes | Their guide | |---|---|---|---| | Namecheap | Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS → Add New Record | Host, Value | Setting up host records | | GoDaddy | Domain Portfolio → your domain → DNS → Add New Record | Name, Value | Manage DNS records | | Cloudflare | your domain → DNS → Records → Add record | Name, Content | Manage DNS records | | Squarespace Domains, including domains moved from Google Domains | Domains → your domain → DNS → DNS Settings → Custom Records | Name, Data | Adding DNS records | | Porkbun | Domain Management → Details → DNS Records | Host, Answer | How to add DNS records | | Hover | your domain → DNS → Add a record | Hostname, Target or Content | Managing DNS records |

If yours is not in the list, its help pages will have a page called something like "add a DNS record", and the same two boxes.

3. Add the records

For each record on your list, add a new record of the same type at your DNS page. Paste the Host into the Host box and the Value into the Value box, using the copy buttons. Nothing needs typing or trimming.

Three things worth knowing:

Paste the Host exactly as shown, like _cf-custom-hostname. Your provider adds the domain itself. A few providers want the full name instead; if yours does, it is shown under each Host.
If a record's Host is @ and your provider refuses it, leave the Host empty. That means the same thing there.
Leave TTL on Automatic, and leave every other record alone, especially any MX records, which are your email.

On Cloudflare only: each record you add has a cloud icon. Turn it off (grey, "DNS only") for every record on this list. An orange cloud stops the certificate being issued.

4. Wait for Seen

Back on your site, leave the page open. It checks every 30 seconds, and Check now checks straight away. Under each record your site says what it found:

Seen. That record is done.
Not seen yet. DNS changes take a few minutes to show, sometimes an hour. Nothing to do but wait.
This record ended up at _cf-custom-hostname.yourname.com.yourname.com. The Host was pasted with the domain on the end, and your provider added it again. Edit the record so the Host is just the short part.
We see something else at this Host. The Value is different. Compare it with the one on your site, character by character.
We see 1.2.3.4, your current site. That is your old site's address, and it is expected: it changes at the last step.

You can close the page once every record says Seen. Nothing is broken while you wait, and your site keeps working at its Yoursellf address.

5. If there was a site there: the last record

When the proof records have gone through, the list changes to show the record that moves your domain to Yoursellf, usually an A record with Host @ and one for www. This is the moment your old site stops showing and your new one starts. Your certificate is already issued by now, so nobody sees a security warning on the way.

Change the record that points at your old site rather than adding a second one beside it. Find the record with Host @. It may be an A record, or an ALIAS, ANAME or CNAME record pointing at your old host, like yourname.wpengine.com. Change its type to the one on your site, usually A, and paste the new Value over the old one. Do the same for the record with Host www. Two records with the same Host send half your visitors to each site.

When it is done

The panel says yourname.com is live, and we email you if you had closed it. Every link your site makes uses your domain, www.yourname.com goes to the same place, and the certificate (the padlock) is renewed for you.

Leave the _acme-challenge record in place. It is how the certificate renews. Removing it later means the padlock goes in a few months.

Going back

Empty the Domain field and press Save. Your site goes back to its Yoursellf address straight away. Then remove the records you added at your domain company, or point them wherever you are going next.

If it is still not working

Still "Not seen yet" after an hour. Open the record at your provider and read the name it shows after saving. Compare it with the Host on your site. Then do the same for the Value.
"Our host stopped checking." It checks for about twelve hours and then stops. If every record is in place, we start it again within 15 minutes. That gives some records new values, which we email you: edit each of those records and paste the new value over the old one. If records were missing, add the ones marked Not seen yet, and we start it again once they are all Seen.
Every record says Seen, but nothing has moved after a day. Write to us with your domain and a screenshot of your DNS page, and we will look.
The old site still shows after the last record. There is usually a second, older A record with the same Host. Remove it.
A security warning on the new site. The certificate is not issued yet. Check the _acme-challenge record says Seen, and on Cloudflare that its cloud is grey.