A site has one main domain, the address it shows. Next to it, it can answer on up to 5 extra domains: the .com next to your .nl, an old brand name, a common misspelling. Each extra domain either redirects visitors to the main domain, or serves the site under its own name. Extra domains are included in every plan.
Before you start
- The site needs a main domain first. Without one, the first domain you add becomes the main domain; see Connect your own domain.
- You need to be allowed to change the site's settings: an owner, admin or developer on the account, or a collaborator on the site.
Add the domain
- Open Sites → your site → Domains.
- Press Add a domain. Next to the button you see how many extra domains the site has, out of 5.
- The Add a domain wizard opens with your site already picked. It copies the domain's current DNS records first, so email and anything else on the domain keep working. At the end, press Add YOUR_DOMAIN to SITE_NAME.
A domain added in the wizard starts out redirecting to the main domain. You can change that on the site page afterwards (below).
Note: If you cannot manage the account's domains (a site collaborator, for example), the Domains tab shows a form instead. Type the domain, choose under It should whether it should redirect to your main domain or serve the site itself, and press Add.
Point it at us
The new domain shows in the table with waiting for DNS until it reaches us. The line under the table says what to do: set its nameservers to the two shown, or point @ and www at the address shown and keep your DNS where it is. We keep checking on our own. Once the domain reaches us we issue its certificate and put it live, and its row shows Certificate issued. Extra domains go through the same states as the main domain. If an extra domain's certificate keeps failing, we email the site's owners and admins; see HTTPS certificate pending.
Redirect or serve
The Role column says what each extra domain does: redirects to main or serves site. To switch, open the ⋯ menu on its row and choose Serve the site on it instead or Redirect it to MAIN_DOMAIN instead. If the domain is already live, we update it on the server for you.
Tip: WordPress always sends visitors to its own address, so on a WordPress site a domain set to serve the site ends up redirecting anyway. Keep extra domains on redirect there.
Make an extra domain the main one
Once an extra domain is live, its menu has Make main domain. Confirm with Make it the main domain. The old main domain stays on the site as an extra domain that redirects to the new one, so links to it keep working. Switching over takes a few minutes. Removing the old domain is a separate step: see Remove a domain from a site.
Mailboxes live on the main domain and cannot move with it yet. If the site has mailboxes, the portal refuses the swap and asks you to contact us first; we move them with you.
Email on an extra domain
Site mailboxes stay on the main domain. For email on an extra domain, choose Add email on YOUR_DOMAIN from its menu. It opens Email with the form for adding email to a domain, the same one described in The Email plan.
With an AI assistant or the API
connect_domain on a site that already has a domain adds the new one as an extra domain, with mode set to redirect (the default) or serve. The API does the same with POST /api/v1/sites/{slug}/domain. get_site_settings lists the site's extra domains, their mode and state. Making a domain the main one and removing one are done in the portal.