Connecting Google Domains domain to Ecwid Instant Site

You can connect a custom domain purchased from Google Domains with your Ecwid Instant Site, so that customers can enter your unique URL in their browser and get right to your site.

Once connected, your Ecwid Instant site will open at your domain name, via secure HTTPS connection. You don’t need to separately purchase an SSL certificate as Ecwid provides free SSL for Instant Site users. Visit your Google Domains account to manage all the domain settings and to pay for the domain name, or renew it.

Step 1. Setting up your domain in the Ecwid admin

To link your domain with your Ecwid Instant Site, you should first specify your custom domain name in your Ecwid admin.

To specify a domain name:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website (or to Overview → Manage Instant Site).
2. In the Domain name and site address block, click Change Address.
3. In the pop-up window that you’ll see enter your custom domain in the Use your own domain name field (you should enter your root domain, i.e. without www part):

4. Copy the IP address that you see below the "Use your own domain name" field (that may be 23.23.44.201, 34.193.83.23, or 3.211.60.235). You will need this IP later to set up the domain in the Google Domains account:

5. Click Save.

Step 2. Setting up your domain in the Google Domains account

To finish linking your Ecwid Instant Site with your domain, you should make changes in your domain settings and point the domain to your Ecwid site. For that, you need to add an A record and a CNAME record in your domain host account.

To point the domain to your Ecwid site:

1. Log in to your Google Domains control panel.
2. Go to My domains and click on the domain you want to manage.
3. In the menu on the left, click DNS.
4. In the Resource records section, click Create new record:
   
5. Add the following values:
   
   • Leave the first field empty.
   • In the drop-down menu, select A.
   • In the next (TTL) field, enter any value, e.g. 1H (1 hour).
   • In the data field, paste the IP address that you earlier copied from your Ecwid admin.
6. Click Save, then click  Manage custom records → Create new record to add a CNAME record:
   
7. Create a CNAME-record (similar to step 5) with the following settings:
   • In the first field, enter www.
   • In the drop-down menu, select CNAME.
   • In the next (TTL) field, enter any value, e.g. 1H (1 hour).
   • In the data field, type your custom domain name without the www part, e.g. mycustomdomain.com.
8. Click Save.

That’s it, your domain is set up. It may take up to 48 hours for the changes to propagate. After that, your store will open with and without www via secure HTTPS connection (for example, https://mycustomdomain.com and https://www.mycustomdomain.com).