Connecting a domain to Instant Site

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Every site has an address — a domain, or URL that appears in a browser’s address bar. For example, mystore.com. When you register a store account, you get a site with your store – Instant Site. It has a free domain, or URL, that you can edit.

Instead of using the default URL, you can connect a third-party domain to your online store. That way customers can enter your custom URL to their browser to open your online store. Having your own domain improves your SEO, which helps you get better placement in search engine results.

Connecting your own domain

To connect your domain to Instant Site, you will need to make changes both in your store’s admin panel and in your domain registrar account. If you haven’t yet purchased a domain, check where you can buy a domain name.

Setting up domain in the store’s admin

  1. From your store’s admin, go to Website → Domain.
  2. In the Site Address block, click Change Address.
  3. In the Use your own domain name field enter your custom domain name.
  4. Copy the IP address that you see under the Use your own domain name field (you will see it after you place the cursor in this field.)
  5. Click Save.

Setting up domain in the domain registrar account

To finish the domain setup, you should make changes in your registrar account. Below you’ll find general steps for making changes.

To set up domain in your domain registrar account:

  1. Log in to your domain registrar’s account. If you do not know who your domain registrar is, you can check it out in online domain checkers like whois.domaintools.com
  2. Create an A-record for your custom domain (your-domain.com) and point it to the IP-address you copied from your store’s admin.

    Make sure to delete other A or AAAA records for your root domain, so they don’t conflict with the A record pointing to your Instant Site.

  3. To make your Instant Site available at www.your-domain.com as well, create a CNAME record for your custom domain your-domain.com and specify www as a name/alias for it. You will need to add the following to DNS record:
    www IN CNAME @
    or
    www IN CNAME your-domain.com
  4. If you are not sure how to make these changes, contact your domain registrar support for more detailed instructions.
  5. Wait for the changes to propagate. It can take from 2 to 48 hours for domain changes to propagate.

Once the setup is complete and the changes are propagated, your Instant Site will become available at the specified addresses via a secure HTTPS connection encrypted by an SSL certificate from us.

If you open your domain name straight after you add the A-record and CNAME there, you will most likely see “This site can’t be reached” message. That’s expected behavior. Give it from 2 to 48 hours for the changes to propagate on the side of the domain and for the store to connect the domain name. 

You can also use a custom subdomain with your Instant Site.

Where to buy a domain

If you want your site to run on your own domain, you should purchase a domain from a domain registrar. Use any domain name registrar that you are comfortable with. 

Some of the most popular domain registrars are:

General steps of buying a domain:

  1. Go to the domain name registrar you chose.
  2. Type in your domain into the search box and click Search Domain.
  3. Select the extension you need (for example .com or .biz) and add the domain to your cart.
  4. Complete the registration process and make the payment.

Domain registrars might prompt you to buy additional features, so before paying make sure there are no additional items in your cart that you don’t need.

  1. The domain is now yours.

We provide free SSL certificate for Instant Site — after you connect a custom domain to your Instant Site, it will run at https:// automatically. In case you connect your custom domain to a site created with the help of a third-party platform, we strongly recommend purchasing an SSL certificate for your own site.

FAQ

How do I transfer my existing domain to Instant Site?

If you want to use your existing domain with your Instant Site, you are supposed to keep the domain with your current domain provider (so, there is no transfer) and just add a few records to your domain settings to point your domain to our IP address. See above how to connect your own domain with Instant Site.

Can I connect a subdomain of my domain to Instant Site?

Yes. If you run your main site on your custom domain, you can connect its subdomain to Instant Site (e.g., shop.your-domain.com). This can be done in the same way as connecting a custom domain:

1. In your store’s admin, go to Instant Site settings , specify your custom subdomain (example: shop.your-domain.com) in the Use your own domain name field and copy our IP address that you’ll see below (when your cursor is in the field).

2. In your domain account, add an A record for your subdomain and point it to our IP address.

If you wish to also use www.shop.your-domain.com, add a CNAME record to your domain settings (example: www.shop.your-domain.com IN CNAME shop.your-domain.com).

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