Last time, I talked about the importance of a custom domain name for a Blogger blog, and for anyone using a free blogging platform like Blogger.com or WordPress.com, I recommended using a custom domain name instead of a free domain name.
If you are a beginner, let me clear your doubts about free domain vs custom domain.
- Beginners: How to Create a Free Blog on Blogger
When you create a blog on blogger.com, you usually get a domain name like (name.blogger.com), which is what we call a free domain. Whereas a custom domain is a domain like name.com. A good example is ShoutMeLoud.com, which is a custom domain.
There are endless benefits to using a custom name for your Blogger blog instead of a free one, and you can read all about it here .
Now, setting up the custom domain feature in Blogger is a little technical, but this DIY guide is aimed at non-technical people.
Here I will share the complete step by step guide that you can follow to add a Blogger custom domain to your blogger blog .
In this case, I am assuming that you have already purchased a domain from GoDaddy and that you have access to your BlogSpot blog.
Complete guide to setting up Blogger with a custom domain:
The first thing you need to do is purchase a domain name, which typically costs around $11 for a year. The benefits of a custom domain name are worth the investment.
Also, think about which sounds better: SidelinePlay.blogger.com or SidelinePlay.com.
If you’ve never purchased a domain name before, here are some guidelines to help you choose the right name for your blog.
I recommend you read it and then decide which domain you want to buy. I strongly recommend you try to buy a .com domain instead of any other domain (.info, .org). In 2016, you can also consider buying a new domain extension with .guru or .video.
Once you have decided on a domain name, go to GoDaddy and purchase your domain name. (5 minutes).
Now, I assume you have two things:
- Your Blogger blog is up and running
- You can access your domain
We had to make changes in two places, once you set up Blogger's custom domain feature, Google will take care of all traffic migration and you won't lose any traffic or backlinks.
To add a registered domain to your Blogger blog:
This is the first step where you will add a registered domain name to your blog. Simply log in to your BlogSpot dashboard and go to Settings > Basic Info and you will see an option which is Publishing > Blog Address > + Set a third-party URL for your blog:
Here you need to add the domain name you have purchased. After adding the domain name, two CNAME records and four A records will be given. These records are what we need in the next step.
Click + Set up a third-party URL for your blog and add the domain name you purchased.
NOTE: You need to add your domain name with www as prefix. (See the screenshot above for better understanding)
After adding the domain with www, you will see an error message "We cannot verify your authority for this domain. Error 12." You will be given a CNAME record that you need to configure (see screenshot below)
Now, once you have these CNAME details, you can log in to your domain control panel and make the changes.
Now, follow the next steps in this guide and your BlogSpot custom domain setup will be complete in no time.
Setting up CNAME and A records for your BlogSpot custom domain
Log in to your Godady account dashboard and click on Manage Domains. You will see a screen like this:
- Click on the purchased domain name in your dashboard and you will be taken to the Manage Domains page.
- On the next page, click DNS Zone File to start adding records. (See the screenshot below for reference)
- Click on Add Record, select CNAME Record from the pop-up window and add both the records one by one from the BlogSpot settings screen. Here are the pictures to make it easy for you to understand the settings
Add the first CNAME record
Click Add Another and copy the second CNAME record from your BlogSpot page:
Add a second CNAME record
Click Finish and on the next page click Save Changes.
- If you have any doubts about this, please feel free to ask me for help via comments.
Add an A record to your domain DNS
This is the final step, you just need to add the 4 IP addresses to your A record. The process is the same as above, all you need to do is add the A record instead of CNAME. I have shared a screenshot which will show you how to add the A record, similarly, you can add all 4 A records.
- Click Add Record and select Name under Record Type. Add @ in the Host Name section and 216.239.34.21 in the Destination IPv4 Address section.
Like this, you need to have a total of 4 A records and the final screen for A records will look like this. Following are the IP addresses for the 4 A records you need to add.
**216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21**
Here is the final screenshot of my A record page on Godaddy:
Now, once you have set up your CNAME and A records, you will need to wait between 5 minutes and 4 hours for these changes to be reflected globally. You will need to go back to your BlogSpot dashboard and click on "Save Changes".
If the CNAME and A records are updated globally, this time the error " We cannot verify your authority for this domain. Error 12. " will not appear and your custom domain will start working. In my case, it took only 5 minutes.
If you see an error, it means you need to wait a few hours before your custom domain can be added. So, here is the final screenshot of what I see:
Once added, Google will take care of the redirection part and anyone who opens your BlogSpot blog address will be automatically redirected to your new custom domain name.
This will also work seamlessly for internal pages, and you won’t lose any traffic or link juice .
One last thing:
Additionally, you need to click "Edit" here and redirect the non-www version of your domain to www. Simply click "Edit" and check the option "Redirect xxxx.com to www.xxxx.com"
This is the official help page from the Blogger team on setting up a custom domain.
The whole process might seem technical, but once you are in the dashboard and follow all the steps mentioned above, it will be easier for you to achieve it.
Buy a domain from GoDaddy and set up a custom domain
If you have been blogging on the Blogger platform for a while or a long time but have not used the Blogger custom domain feature, I strongly recommend you to start using it to get better branding and make your blog look more professional.
If you run into any problems along the way and need help, feel free to let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed reading this tutorial and found it useful, please share it on Facebook and Google+.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you click through to visit us, at no extra cost to you. See how SidelinePlay is funded, why it’s important, and how you can support us.
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