Connect a custom domain

Note: If you purchased your domain name from one of the providers listed below, click the link for documentation tailored to that domain name provider:

GoDaddy
Google Domains
Namecheap
Hover
Bluehost

Introduction

Creating an Elementor hosted website is your first step on the road to success. Now it’s time to attach a great name to your beautiful site.

When you purchase an Elementor hosted website, your site is assigned a name (e.g. mycoolsite.elementor.cloud). However, you’ll probably want to give it a more memorable name like mycoolsite.com 

If you don’t currently own a name, check out our guide to buying a domain name. 

Once you’ve purchased a name, or if you already have a custom name, you’re ready to add it to your Elementor website. This means that when visitors type mycoolsite.com in the address bar of their browser, they’ll go to your site. 

In order to do this, you will first need to make some changes to the DNS records of your domain name. This document will walk you through the steps.

How does it work

These are the steps you need to follow when adding a custom domain:

Step 1: Get your website details from my.elementor.

Step 2: Configure your DNS records at your domain registrar’s website.

Step 3: Enter the domain name and choose if you want to set it as primary. You will be given an option to create a www variant as well. Then, you will finish the process on my.elementor and verify that your domain is fully operational.

Connect a custom domain to your Elementor Hosting website

1. From My Elementor dashboard , go to Websites and click the Manage This Website button located in your website’s card to open the site details screen. From the Manage Domains section, click Connect my domain.
   
2. In the popup window, enter the custom domain name you purchased and click Let’s begin. Generally, you will use the domain name without www in front of it.
   
   By default, the system will use the name you entered as the primary domain and will also connect the name with www in front of it. (e.g. mysite.com will be the primary domain and www.mysite.com will also be connected.)
   If these defaults are okay, click Let’s begin.
   
3. For this next step you’ll need to open a new tab in your browser and sign into your domain name provider account if you haven’t already.You’re now starting the process of pointing your domain to your Elementor site.

   Once signed in, click I signed in, what’s next?
   

4. Once you’ve logged in to your registrar’s website in a new browser tab, you’ll need to access the settings for your domain.This will vary according to your domain name provider.Once you’ve found your domain settings click Found it, what’s next?
   
   
5. Within your domain registrar Domain settings page, locate the A and CNAME records, go back to the Elementor tab and click Found them, what’s next?
   
6. You can now access the A record and CNAME of your Elementor hosted website.
   Use the icon to copy the A record and CNAME.
   
7. Go to your domain registrar, paste these values, and update the A record and CNAME found in your domain settings.
   Example of adding an A Record: 
   
   Example of adding a CNAME Record:
   warningImportant: If your domain is marked as Parked or is a AAAA domain, you may have to remove the existing record.
   warningImportant: If your domain is hosted at Cloudflare, you cannot turn on Proxy as this will not allow the domain to be properly connected. It has to be set to ‘DNS Only’ Domains.
8. Go back to the Elementor tab and click I updated my records. Connect my domain
   
   
9. Wait for the process to complete.
   In this process, Elementor will:
   • Add the domain to your site.
   • Verify your DNS records.
   • Issue an SSL certificate for the domain.
   
   info The Process can take up to 48 hours. Once the process is complete, you will be notified by email.

   Warning

   CAA records specify which certificate authorities have permission to certify your domain. You do not have to specify a CAA but if you have added any CAA records, you must have Cloudflare listed as a CAA. To learn how to add Cloudflare as a CAA, see Add CAA records (external link).

   
   For more information on DNS propagation, why it takes time, and how to check its status