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Hosting and deploy

How do you connect a custom domain to your website or app?

How to point your own domain at Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Lovable or any host: which DNS records to add, how HTTPS gets issued, and how to fix the usual errors.

To connect a custom domain, add it in your hosting platform's domain settings, then create the DNS records the platform shows at your DNS provider: usually a CNAME for www and an A or ALIAS record for the bare domain, plus a TXT record if verification is required. The platform then issues an HTTPS certificate automatically once the records resolve.

Published · Last updated

By Michal Měřínský. Audit methodology.

The general steps

  • In your host's dashboard, add both the bare domain and www, and choose which one is primary.
  • The host shows the DNS records it needs. Copy them exactly.
  • At your DNS provider, usually your registrar or Cloudflare, add those records and remove conflicting old ones for the same names.
  • Wait for the host to detect the records. It then issues a certificate, typically within minutes.
  • Check that the non-primary name redirects to the primary one.

Which records

  • www or another subdomain: a CNAME pointing to the address your host gives you.
  • The bare domain: an A record to the host's IP address, or an ALIAS, ANAME or flattened CNAME if your DNS provider supports it and the host recommends it.
  • Verification: some hosts ask for a TXT record to prove you own the domain. Each host's values are different. Always use the ones in your dashboard, not values from a tutorial.

Check your work

dig +short www.example.com
dig +short example.com
curl -sI http://example.com | grep -i location

The first two should show the host's address or alias. The last should redirect to the HTTPS primary domain.

Usual errors

  • The certificate stays pending: a conflicting old A or AAAA record, a CAA record that does not allow the host's certificate authority, or DNS not yet updated.
  • Invalid configuration on the bare domain: a CNAME on the apex, which most DNS providers do not allow.
  • Redirect loop behind Cloudflare: the proxy is on with SSL mode Flexible. Use Full (strict), or turn the proxy off for the record if the host asks you to.
  • Email stops working: name servers were changed and the MX records were not recreated.
  • Old site still appears: DNS caching. Wait for the old TTL to expire.

Keep the platform's default address, such as a vercel.app or netlify.app subdomain, from competing in search: make sure it redirects to your domain or carries a canonical to it.

What a scan can and cannot tell you

WebAuditOS checks the result: the site on your domain is served over HTTPS with a valid certificate, HTTP redirects to it, and canonicals point at your own host rather than a platform subdomain or preview URL.

It does not read your DNS zone or your host's settings, so it cannot tell you which record is wrong, only that the outcome is.

Canonicals pointing at a preview or platform domain are one of the most common launch mistakes. Check them right after connecting the domain.

Short answers

How long does it take to connect a domain? Minutes once DNS updates, sometimes a few hours.

Should I use www or not? Either. Choose one and redirect the other.

Do I need to buy an SSL certificate? No. Modern hosts issue one free and renew it.

Can I keep my email when I connect a domain? Yes, if you only change the website records and leave MX records alone.

In the product

The checks this maps to

Every check named here runs on every scan, on every plan - what a plan changes is how many pages are crawled, how long the history is kept and what you can do with the result. These are the ids the findings carry, so you can match a line in a report to the explanation above.

Hosting and deploy

What is DNS, and how does it work?

DNS turns a domain name into the address of the server behind it. How a lookup works, the record types you will meet, TTL and propagation, and common mistakes.

Hosting and deploy

How do you choose a domain name?

How to choose a domain name people remember and trust: length, extensions, trademarks and social handles, plus the settings to get right after buying.