Quick Tips: Pointing A Domain Name to Your Google Site

Google Sites, which a tremendous free website builder and hosting platform, allows you to point the domain you purchased from GoDaddy.com, Network Solutions, etc. to your website, replacing the Google-generated URL.

It's a heck of a lot easier to promote and market your website using the purchased domain over the default URL. For example, my personal Google Site's URL is:

http://sites.google.com/site/philleclair. But to make it more professional, I purchased www.philleclair.com.

To shield you from the same possible and nerve-wracking oversight I experienced, here's a few additional steps to complement what is provided by Google Sites Help and the domain host provider:

1. Signed in to your Google Site, go to to More actions and click on Manage site.

2. Click on Web Address and add your custom domain.

3. Login to your domain host provider and Manage Domains (may be under My Domains or Domain Manager. Click on the custom domain you want to point to the website. Look for a link that allows you to edit DNS. GoDaddy's link as shown below is, "Total DNS Options".

4. Under CNAMES, click to edit for www. GoDaddy's uses a pencil icon for editing. In Enter an Alias Name, enter: www. In the Points to Host Name field, enter: ghs.google.com (the default setting is "@"). For TTL, you can leave as default (1 hour is GoDaddy's). Click OK to save settings.

Step 4 was where I initially failed to follow the GoDaddy steps properly. In the Enter an Alias Name, I first entered the whole domain, www.philleclair.com. Strike one. The second time I entered "www" with a period (www.). Strike two. Realizing the period at the end of www was the hinderance, I avoided striking out, and my third attempt was successful. The DNS can take several hours to refresh, so your domain is not going to immediately going to point to the website.

Best bet is to complete these steps before you go to bed. It will prevent from typing your domain name into the browser every five minutes to see if your efforts were fruitful!

For a better understanding of the terms DNS, CNAMES, NAMESERVERS, TTL, spend some time reading your domain host provider's Help Pages. Wikpedia is also a good resource for enlightenment on these definitions.