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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 record). 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:

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

    pointing-your-domain_1.png

  2. Scroll down and expand the Want to keep your domain registered with another registrar? section.

    pointing-your-domain_2.png

  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.

    pointing-your-domain_3.png

  4. Select the site you want to use with this domain from the dropdown list.

    pointing-your-domain_4.png

  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.

A record for mydomain.com domain:

  • Name: @ or mydomain.com
  • Value: 104.18.126.89

A record for your www.mydomain.com domain:

  • Name: www or www.mydomain.com
  • Value: 104.18.126.89

CNAME record:

  • Name: _acme-challenge or _acme-challenge.mydomain.com
  • Value:​​  mydomain.com.03baf0e5da069998.dcv.cloudflare.com (Try setting the record with the trailing dot at the end if your registrar shows an error.)

Each domain provider has different requirements when it comes to adding DNS records. For instance, with some providers, you may need only www as the A record’s Name, while others require your domain name with www appended, e.g., www.mydomain.com. We strongly recommend checking your provider’s requirements or contacting them directly for advice before adding DNS records. As an example, take a look at the records in one of the domain registrars:

Pointingadomain23 1 (1).png

Note: When adding the records, replace mydomain.com with your actual domain name.

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.  If there is no success message after 5-10 minutes, please contact our customer support team so they can check your domain DNS records and guide you further if required.

The green checkmark icon instead of the spinning wheel icon means the pointing process has been successful. Please note, however, that your domain 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. Note: Ensure you’ve replaced shop.mydomain.com and mydomain.com with your own subdomain and domain name respectively when adding the records below. 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 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 or _cf-custom-hostname.mydomain.com 
    • Value:  The value is unique for each domain. Please copy the value from Step 3 in My Yola.

      Pointing Step 3 1.png
  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:

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

      Pointing Step 4 1.png

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 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 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 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.mydomain.com
    • Value: 104.18.126.89

      Pointing step 1.1 1.png
  4. Save the changes.

Note: Ensure you’ve replaced shop.qa.mydomain.com with your own 2+ level subdomain name.

Please allow time for DNS propagation (up to 48 hours, but usually less). If the connection does not succeed within 5-10 minutes, contact Yola’s customer support for guidance.

FAQ

My domain is not pointing. What should I do?

Pointing usually takes 5-10 minutes. If the progress is not changing, please check if the A and CNAME records were entered correctly. Also, make sure everything is spelled correctly.

Once your custom domain has been successfully connected to the website, it might take some time for the site to be online.

If I already have a CNAME with www Name, should I delete and replace it or just change the Value?

It should work both ways. We suggest you always check the instructions of your domain name provider before making any changes.

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