If you purchased a domain from a third-party provider (like GoDaddy, Hover, or 1&1), you can connect it to your Squarespace 5 site through a process called domain mapping. This process requires you to change a few settings in your domain provider's account to tell the domain where to point.
This guide walks you through our general domain connecting steps for third-party domains. Domains registered through Squarespace connect automatically.
Note: To transfer your domain to Squarespace, upgrade your site to Squarespace 7. To learn more about the benefits of upgrading, visit Squarespace 5 vs. newer versions.
Before you begin
- To follow this guide, you should have already registered a domain with a third-party provider. Once you connect your domain by following the steps in this guide, you must leave it registered with your provider to keep it connected to your Squarespace 5 site.
- You'll need to use your domain provider's default nameservers to successfully connect your domain to your Squarespace 5 site.
- It's not possible to connect a custom domain to a specific page on your site. All connected domains will point to the site itself and resolve to the primary domain.
- You can't connect a custom domain to Squarespace if the domain name has the word "Squarespace" in it.
- Domains with special characters (such as ü, é, ñ) may not display properly on all browsers. If a browser can’t display the character, it will reformat the domain with extra characters and dashes. For example, the domain “übercool.de,” redirects to "xn--bercool-m2a.de” in unsupported browsers.
- Your domain provider must offer full DNS access. If they don't, you’ll need to transfer the domain to a new provider before connecting it to Squarespace 5.
Provider-specific guides
Instead of following the general instructions on this page, we have step-by-step guides for these popular providers:
Step 1 - Link your domain
- Log into your Squarespace 5 site.
- Open the Website Management bar and click Custom Domain under Structure.
- Click Link Domain.
- Enter your custom domain.
- Click Add.
Step 2 - Log into your domain account
Log into your domain account and find where you manage your DNS settings. Depending on your provider, this may be called Zone File Settings, Manage Domains, Domain Manager, DNS Manager, or something similar.
After finding the settings, you may see that you already have DNS records in place. Some providers may require you to change or delete them so your domain correctly links to your Squarespace site.
After finding where to manage your DNS settings, you'll create these records: A CNAME record for the www version of your domain and four A records for the non-www version.
How you create records can vary depending on your provider's interface. For help with settings in your account, contact your provider's support team.
Step 3 - Add the CNAME record
In your provider's DNS manager, create a CNAME with these values:
| Alias or Host Name | Type or Record Type | Points to |
| www | CNAME or CNAME Alias | ext5-cust.squarespace.com |
Note: The "Points to" value for the CNAME is always ext5-cust.squarespace.com, not your personal domain name.
Depending on your provider, you may already have a CNAME set up with a www alias. If so, edit this existing CNAME so that Points To is ext5-cust.squarespace.com.
Step 4 - Add the A records
Create four A Records in your DNS manager matching what's shown below. If you can only add one A Record, use the record in the first row.
| Host or Host Name | Type or Record Type | Points to |
| @ | A | 198.185.159.160 |
| @ | A | 198.185.159.161 |
| @ | A | 198.49.23.160 |
| @ | A | 198.49.23.161 |
If your provider doesn't accept @ as a Host Name, we recommend leaving the Host/Host Name field blank.
Step 5 - Wait and test
If all records are entered correctly, your domain will connect to your site within 24 hours. At times, it can take up to 72 hours to connect. For more information, visit the domain updates guide on our Squarespace 7 help site.
Until it connects, you'll see one of these two warnings:
When the domain is correctly linked, the domain will appear in the Domains list.
Step 6 - Set domain display preferences (optional)
When you link a domain to your site, both the www domain version (e.g. www.yourdomain.com) and non-www domain version (e.g. domain.com) are automatically included.
Click the Toggle WWW link next to the domain to display the version you prefer.
Connecting multiple domains
You can map multiple domains to your site using the steps above for each new domain. All connected domains will automatically redirect to the primary domain. It isn't possible to point a domain to a specific page within your site.
To choose which domain is primary:
- Open the Website Management bar and click Custom Domain under Structure.
- Hover over the domain and click Make Primary.
Connecting subdomains
A subdomain is an extension of your domain name that forwards to your site. This could be something like “blog.yourdomain.com,” where the subdomain is "blog." For Squarespace 5, all subdomains resolve to the primary domain for your account.
To create a subdomain, add a new CNAME record following the same method you used in Steps 2 and 3 above, using your desired subdomain as the Alias or Host Name. Then link the subdomain to your site as you did in Step 1.
For detailed steps, visit Creating subdomains.
FAQs
I can't create a CNAME record or A records with my domain provider
Adding a CNAME record and four A records is the best way to connect a custom domain to your Squarespace 5 site.
However, there are other options if your domain provider doesn't allow this:
- If you can't create a CNAME record, just add the four A records.
- If you can only add one A record, add the record in the first row.
Can I transfer my domain to Squarespace?
It's not possible to transfer a third-party domain to Squarespace 5. If you're interested in transferring a domain and managing it within your site, consider moving to a newer version.
Why do my links have "Squarespace" in the URL?
When you're logged into your site, you'll see the built-in URL for your Squarespace 5 site, which looks something like this:
https://accountname.squarespace.com/blog
If you're sending someone a link to your site, replace everything before the page slug with your custom URL, like this:
https://yourcustomdomain.com/blog
If you're adding a text link to a page on your site, link to its page slug by following these steps. This helps ensure that visitors continue to see your custom domain in their browser bar.
After connecting the domain to my site, my custom email stopped working
Ensure that you didn't adjust your MX records to point to Squarespace. Connecting your domain only involves changes to CNAME and A records, so if your domain provider also hosts your email, there’s no need to adjust your nameservers or MX records.
To set up a new custom email address, visit Setting up Google Workspace.
Note: Your email provider might be different than your domain provider. If your email provider asked you to use their default nameservers instead of your domain provider’s, use the email provider's DNS records to connect your domain to Squarespace. We recommend contacting your email provider for help editing these records.
My custom domain takes me to Squarespace.com
This can happen if the linked custom domain has typos or other issues. To troubleshoot the issue:
- Log into your Squarespace 5 site.
- In Website Management bar, click Custom Domain under Structure.
- Click Link Domain.
- Ensure your custom domain is correct. If it's incorrect, unlink it and then add it again.
Squarespace 7 comparison
In our current platform, Squarespace 7, in addition to connecting a third-party domain you can:
- Register multiple domain names through Squarespace.
- Transfer a third-party domain to Squarespace and manage it within your site.
Learn more on our Squarespace 7 help site. If you're ready to switch, visit Squarespace 5 vs newer versions.