Pointing your domain to Yola

Custom domains can be transferred or pointed to Yola. This article is about pointing a domain to your Yola website by changing the domain’s DNS records (CNAME and A records). This way, your custom domain remains registered with your domain provider but is connected to your Yola website.

You can also point subdomains to your Yola website. For more information, see:

• Pointing any subdomain other than www (e.g., shop.mydomain.com)
• Pointing 2+ level subdomain (e.g., shop.qa.mydomain.com)

Note: You can publish your Yola site to a pointed domain when your account has one of our paid hosting plans (Personal (Yola Bronze), Business (Yola Silver), or Business Elite (Yola Gold)).

Stage 1: Start connecting your domain

Follow these steps to connect your domain to a Yola-built site:

1. In the My Yola dashboard, click Domains on the Topbar.
   
   
2. Scroll down and expand the Want to keep your domain registered with another registrar? section.
   
   
3. Type your domain name in the Domain field. You can enter either www or bare domain here. The entered value will become the primary domain, for example,  the website will open with https://www.mydomain.com or with https://mydomain.com in the address bar.
   
   
4. Select the site you want to use with this domain from the dropdown list.
   
   
5. Click Add.

Stage 2: Amend A and CNAME records

Step 3, with a list of DNS records to point your domain, will appear after you've clicked Add at the end of the previous stage. Now, go to your domain's DNS management area on your provider's side and add ALL of the records from the provided list. See the example records below.

1. A record for the bare domain:
   • Name: @
   • Value: 104.18.126.89
      
2. A record for the www domain:
   • Name: www
   • Value: 104.18.126.89
      
3. CNAME record:
   • Name: _acme-challenge
   • Value:​​  yourdomain.com.03baf0e5da069998.dcv.cloudflare.com
     (Try setting the record with the trailing dot at the end if your registrar shows an error.)

Once you have added the records, switch back to My Yola and wait until our system verifies them.

Our system may take a couple of minutes to establish the connection. The green checkmark icon instead of the spinning wheel icon means the pointing process has been successful. 

If there is no success message or you receive an error message, please contact Customer Support so they can check your domain DNS records and guide you further if required.

Please also note that your website may not be accessible immediately since DNS changes need to propagate worldwide. It might take up to 48 hours, but it usually takes less.

If you face any difficulties pointing your domain, you may also consider transferring your domain (available only for .com, .net, .biz, and .org domain extensions) to Yola so we can manage your domain’s DNS records. Here’s a tutorial with more information: Transferring a domain to Yola.

Pointing a subdomain other than www 

To point a subdomain (such as shop.mydomain.com) to Yola, ensure that your domain is registered and managed by a domain registrar. Follow these steps to set up and connect the subdomain:

Stage 1: Start connecting the subdomain to your Yola site

1. Log in to your Yola account and navigate to the My Yola dashboard.
2. Click Domains on the Topbar.
3. Scroll down and expand the Want to keep your domain registered with another registrar? section.
4. Enter your subdomain, such as shop.mydomain.com, in the Domain field.
5. From the Use this domain for dropdown, select the site you want to connect the subdomain to.
6. Click Add.

Stage 2: Verify your domain ownership

1. Log into your domain provider’s account. 
2. Access the DNS management area of your domain.
3. Create a new TXT record:
   • Name:  _cf-custom-hostname
   • Value:  The value is unique for each domain. Please copy the value from Step 3 in My Yola.
     
     
4. Save the changes.

Stage 3: Add A and CNAME records

After you save the changes at Stage 2, Step 4, with a list of DNS records to point your subdomain, will appear. Now, go to your domain's DNS management area on your provider's side and again add all of the records from the provided list. See the example records below:

1. A record:
   • Name: shop
   • Value: 104.18.126.89
      
2. CNAME record:
   • Name:  _acme-challenge
   • Value: yourdomain.com.03baf0e5da069998.dcv.cloudflare.com (Try setting the record with the trailing dot at the end if your registrar shows an error.)

Save the records and check whether the pointing was successful in My Yola. If the green checkmark appears, the pointing is successful.

Note: The subdomain may not be accessible immediately due to DNS propagation. It might take up to 48 hours, but it usually takes less.

Pointing a 2+ level subdomain 

For subdomains with two or more levels (such as shop.qa.mydomain.com), follow these steps to configure and connect the domain to Yola:

Stage 1: Connect the subdomain to your Yola site

1. Log in to your Yola account and navigate to the My Yola dashboard.
2. Click Domains on the Topbar.
3. Scroll down and expand the Want to keep your domain registered with another registrar? section.
4. Enter your 2+ level subdomain, such as shop.qa.mydomain.com, in the Domain field.
5. From the Use this domain for dropdown, select the site you want to connect the subdomain to.
6. Click Add.

Stage 2: Add the A record for the subdomain

1. Log in to your domain registrar’s account.
2. Access the DNS management area.
3. Create the following A record:
   • Name: shop.qa
   • Value: 104.18.126.89
     
     
      
4. Save the changes.

Save the record and check whether the pointing was successful in My Yola. If the green checkmark appears, the pointing is successful.

Note: The subdomain may not be accessible immediately due to DNS propagation. It might take up to 48 hours, but it usually takes less.

FAQ

My domain is not pointing. What should I do?

If you've added all the DNS records correctly, your domain or subdomain pointing should usually complete within a few minutes. If the green checkmark does not appear, please verify that all the records have been entered correctly, that none are missing, and that they are spelled correctly.

I pointed my domain, but the website does not work. What to do next?

Once your custom domain has been successfully connected to your website (the green checkmark appears), it may still take some time for your website to become accessible at the connected domain or subdomain. The DNS records you've added need to propagate worldwide before the website becomes available. DNS propagation usually takes up to a couple of hours, but in some cases, it can take up to 48 hours.

Please allow at least a few hours for the DNS changes to propagate before checking your website again. If it is still not accessible after 48 hours, please contact Customer Support for further assistance.

If I already have A records with @ or www Name, should I delete and replace them or just change the Value?

It should work both ways, but we suggest you check the instructions of your domain name host before making any changes.

I had my website published to a pointed domain in the past, but it went offline. How do I make it live again?

If your hosting subscription expired, your pointed domain may have been automatically disconnected from your website. Check that your premium plan (Personal (Yola Bronze), Business (Yola Silver), or Business Elite (Yola Gold)) is active, then try pointing your domain to your website again by following the steps above.