How to connect your custom domain to Google Sites
How to connect your custom domain to Google Sites is a common question. Here's my simple guide to show you how.
How to connect your custom domain to Google Sites
If you're using Google Sites for a personal blog, business website or online brand, you'll likely want to use your own domain, rather than use the https://sites.google.com/ .... address. Here's a simple guide to help you do that.
Tip: I mostly use Porkbun for domains, and connecting Porkbun domains to Google Sites is lemon squeezy. (I'm not an affiliate - I only suggest products or services I use myself).
A basic summary of what you need to do
To connect your domain (e.g., example.com) to your Google Sites website, you need to do two things:
Publish your Google Sites and tell it which custom domain you want to use, and,
Configure your domain to point to your published Google Site.
Actually, that might be three, but let's count them as two. Both of these things are fairly straightforward, and you don't need to be a rocket scientist. I'm going to use other resources that I've found really useful, rather than reinventing the wheel.
Note that some of these changes can take time to 'propagate' over the Internet, so it can take up to 48 hours but I've found it's usually sorted in an hour or two.
Step 1: Publish your Google Site to the Internet
This is the first step, to actually get your Google Site onto the Internet. Here's how you publish your site:
On your computer, open your site in new Google Sites.
At the top, click Publish.
Enter the web address for your site. (This will be something like https://sites.google.com/youruniquesitename, like in the image opposite)
Edit the 'Who can view my site'. Make sure you set the 'Published site' to Public, otherwise you'll be presented with a login challenge when you view the website
Click Publish.
Step 2: Tell Google Sites which custom domain you want to use
In your Google Site, click the gear icon and select 'custom domain'. You'll see something like this (except where it says 'googlesites.dev' yours will probably be blank:
Enter your domain into the 'Connected domains' box, and click 'Add'.
You may have to follow some steps to verify your domain. If you are, follow step 4 in Porkbun's instructions.
*Can't see the 'Custom domain' option in the Settings panel?
Make sure you're the Owner of the Google Site (and not just an Editor). It seems that only the Google Site Owner can set up the connection to a custom domain. However once the owner completes that step, an Editor can publish Site updates to the custom domain.
Step 3: Configure your domain/DNS to point to your Google Site
This is where the screen you'll see will depend on which domain registrar you use. I use Porkbun, and they've written some useful info, follow step 8 in this guide. In short, what you have to do is:
Create a CNAME record for the www version of your website, using the value 'ghs.googlehosted.com.' (be sure to include the period)
You now need to set up URL forwarding so that people who don't type the 'www' can still get to your site. In your domain control panel look for 'URL forwarding' and set the non-www version of your domain to point to the www version. (See screenshot below, but yours may look different)
If you're interested, there's a good article here on the different types of DNS records you might find in your domain control panel.
Some useful reference stuffs
Google has written a simple guide on how to use a custom domain with your Google Sites, which is worth reading. It's here.
I'm also going to use a couple of acronyms in this article, so a primer on DNS is a useful read too. Don't worry, you don't need to remember this, and there won't be a test 😉.
Pitfalls and troubleshooting
Editing your domain control panel can be a little daunting. Some domain registrars automatically create 'A records' to point your domain at a website (e.g., GoDaddy defaults to a 'coming soon' page), so you might see something like this in your settings:
My guidance would be to take a screenshot or write these down, as they may not be required. If your domain does not point to your Google Site after 24-48 hours, remove all the other 'A records'. The CNAME record you've created should suffice.
If Hostinger is your domain registrar
Hostinger provide instructions on how to connect your Hostinger domain to Google Sites. From personal experience, I have found the following needs to be considered:
Hostinger create 4 'A' records by default - you don't actually need these. I replaced these with a single CNAME record
Hostinger don't currently support pointing the non-www version of your domain to the www version. However they suggest using a 3rd party service like Cloudflare to point the 'naked' (e.g., non-www version) of your domain to the fully qualified (e.g., www version) one.
I have written an article on how to use Cloudflare to point your naked domain to your domain
If GoDaddy is your domain registrar
There's a useful tutorial on Reddit on how to connect your GoDaddy domain to Google Sites, but some key points to consider:
GoDaddy appear to create some 'A' records by default - you don't actually need these. I replaced these with a single CNAME record
GoDaddy does support the redirect feature, for pointing non-www to www. Just follow the steps above, it's fairly straightforward.
If Porkbun is your domain registrar
Porkbun provide instructions on how to connect your domain to Google Sites.
If Squarespace is your domain registrar
Squarespace provide instructions Connecting your Squarespace domain to a Google Sites site
Has this guide helped you?
Feel free to buy me a coffee ☕💕
Can you help me improve this page! Were the steps clear, did I miss something - what would make it better? Please let me know.