Connect a Squarespace domain

Check your account and launch instructions

Begin with our before-you-start checklist and guide to keeping your email. Have the exact DNS records supplied by Your Website People ready. Their types, names, and destinations are for your particular website; our own website’s address is not a shared connection target.

Former Google Domains registrations have moved to Squarespace. This guide applies when Squarespace manages your domain’s DNS. If your domain uses custom nameservers, make the changes with that DNS provider instead. Keep those nameservers unchanged.

Save a screenshot of your existing DNS records. Your domain registration and email service should remain active as we connect your website.

Add the website records in DNS settings

If an existing custom record uses the same website hostname, ask us which record to replace before adding another destination.

1. Open your Squarespace Domains dashboard and select your domain. Choose DNS, then DNS settings.

2. Check for the Squarespace Defaults website preset. Its old website destinations can conflict. Follow our instructions to remove that website preset if present, while preserving email presets and other records.

3. Under Custom Records, choose Add Record. For the root domain, select type A, enter @ in Name, and enter the supplied IP address in IP Address. Select Save.

4. Add the supplied www record using type CNAME. Enter www in Name and the supplied destination hostname in Data, then save.

Keep email and domain services running

Our launch instructions will identify the website records that need replacing. If the defaults section looks different, or you see records you cannot identify, send us a screenshot. We can help you make the change without guessing.

Your email subscription and domain renewal still need to stay active. Check with us before canceling any Squarespace or old hosting plan, especially if email was purchased as part of that setup.

Verify the new connection with us

Tell Your Website People when the records have been saved. Squarespace advises allowing 24 to 48 hours for pointing changes to work properly. Different networks may remember the previous settings for different lengths of time.

Check your domain both with and without www, using HTTPS. You should see your new website without a certificate warning. Send and receive a test email as well, and share any errors with us.

A private browser window helps check browser state, but does not clear your internet provider’s DNS cache. If results differ, try another network and let us know. We will help confirm the launch before you retire your old website.