Connecting a Network Solutions domain to your Squarespace 5 site

If you purchased a domain from Network Solutions, you can use it for your Squarespace 5 site by following a process called domain mapping. This process includes changing a few settings in your Network Solutions account, which will tell the domain where to point.

To follow this guide, you should already have an active domain with Network Solutions. Once you connect your domain by following the steps in this guide, you must leave it registered with Network Solutions to keep it connected to your Squarespace 5 site.

Network Solutions offers multiple ways to edit your domain. If the steps in this guide don’t match what you see in your Network Solutions account, follow the steps in their guide to edit your domain's records.

Tip: Before you begin, review our requirements for connecting a third-party domain.

Step 1 - Log into Network Solutions

1. Go to www.networksolutions.com and log into your account.
2. In the sidebar, click Domain Names.
3. Under My Domain Folders, check the domain you want to connect, then click Edit DNS.
4. Click Manage Advanced DNS Records.

Step 2 - Check the current A Records

Before adding your CNAME records, ensure that you don't have an active www value within your A Records:

1. Under IP Address (A Records) in your Network Solutions account, click Edit A Records.
2. In the www row, delete any values in the corresponding Numeric IP box. Keeping this box blank will allow you to add www as a CNAME host in the next step.
3. Click Continue to return to the domain's Advanced DNS Records.

Step 3 - Add the CNAME Record

In your Network Solutions account, scroll down to Host Aliases (CNAME Records) and click Edit CNAME Records.

1. In the first Alias box, enter www.
2. Click the circle next to Other Host.
3. Enter ext5-cust.squarespace.com in the Other Host box.
4. Click Continue.

Note: If you already have a record for www, check Other Host and enter ext5-cust.squarespace.com in the box.

Step 4 - Add the A Records

In your Network Solutions account, under IP Address (A Records) click Edit A Records.

1. Find the record with @ (None) in its Host field.
2. Add 198.185.159.160 to the right of @ (None).
3. Scroll down and add @ to three boxes in the left hand column.

Add the following values to the three boxes directly to the right of where you entered each @:

• 198.185.159.161
• 198.49.23.160
• 198.49.23.161

Then click Continue.

Step 5 - Link your domain

After setting up your CNAME and A Record settings with Network Solutions, link the domain to your site.

1. Log into your Squarespace 5 site.
2. Open the Website Management bar and click Custom Domain under Structure.
3. Click Link Domain.
4. Enter your custom domain.
5. Click Add.

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. We have more information about this on our Squarespace 7 help site.

While you wait, you can check your domain’s progress across the Internet by using Whatsmydns.net. Until it connects, you'll see one of these two warnings:

When your Network Solutions domain is correctly linked, it 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.