Connect a GoDaddy domain

Have your website’s records ready

Start with our before-you-start checklist and guide to keeping your email. Your Website People will supply the exact record types, names, and values for your website when it is ready to connect. Use those instructions alongside this guide. There is no shared destination to copy from our own website.

Confirm that GoDaddy manages your DNS. A domain purchased at GoDaddy may use another company’s nameservers; in that case, make the changes with that DNS provider. Keep your current nameservers and save a screenshot of the existing records before editing.

Open GoDaddy and update the website records

1. Sign in to GoDaddy and open your Domain Portfolio. Select your domain, then choose DNS.

2. Find the website record identified in your launch instructions and select Edit. If it does not exist, use the option to add a record.

3. For a root A record, enter @ in Name and your supplied IP address in Value.

4. For a CNAME record for your www address, enter www in Name and your supplied destination hostname in Value.

5. Leave TTL at its default unless we specify otherwise. Select Save or Save All Records. Complete any GoDaddy identity verification.

Keep email and other services connected

If you see several website addresses, an old AAAA record, forwarding, or a record you cannot edit, send us the details. We will identify any conflicting records for the same website hostname. Keep your existing email subscription active, including when it is bundled with old hosting.

Let us know, then check the connection

Tell Your Website People when you have saved the changes so we can check your connection. GoDaddy says most DNS changes work within an hour, but worldwide updates can take up to 48 hours.

During that time, different networks can show different versions of your website because they remember the previous settings. A private browser window helps check browser state, but does not clear your internet provider’s DNS cache.

Check your domain both with and without www, using HTTPS. Confirm the right website appears without a certificate warning, then send and receive a test email. Share any error message with us, and let us confirm launch before retiring your old website hosting.