Configuring a DNS for Google Sites

While making a site in Google Sites is pretty straightforward, intuitive, and well-documented, website address like https://sites.google.com/view/your_name might feels a bit off personality, and other parts that are tied with the domain name might be tricky for someone who has never done that before. It is not that hard as it might appear, despite all these new names and abbreviations; you just need to create an account in some registrar and then create a couple of records.

Well, because the number of registrars is great, and they all use different versions of software for setups, it's hard to create one comprehensive guide that will cover all aspects of domain registration, but I'll try to explain most of the steps in the simplest manner.

So, what is a domain name? It is the name that you put in your browser to open a website, like yourname.com. The endings of the names after the dot (Top-Level Domains or TLDs) might be .com, .net, .vn, or many other different ones. Not every registrar can provide all these names; that's why you might want to choose one particular one - because they have the ending you want, and for a reasonable price.

Price is the most tricky part in all this endeavor. If you're thinking about some catchy name, it might be already registered, or some providers may have pre-registered it to put a higher price on it. It is commonly advised that you avoid checking domain availability on registrars' sites if you do not plan to buy it right away. If you don't buy it immediately, the price can become ten or more times higher next time, and you will not be able to buy it from another registrar. Use independent services like ICANN Lookup or WHOIS; if the name you have in mind is not found, then it is available. Otherwise, you can see who owns it.

The second trick is the renewal price. Most providers say something like: "buy a domain for only $4.99" and you think it is a good deal, but after a year has passed and your domain name becomes irreplaceable, you might find out that the renewal price is $149.99. Always look at the prices section. Most providers are pretty honest and provide a lower price for the first year and show you the renewal price right away. If you do not see the renewal price, look at the prices section of the site, or pick another one, to not be surprised after a year has passed.

The process of buying does not differ from buying anything in an online shop. You need to provide some of your data and make a payment. After that, they give you a link, login, and password for a management system, where you need to make some changes to link this name to Google Sites.

These systems might be very different, but they serve one purpose, so they always have the necessary sections, and adding records is a basic functionality.

There are many types of records. You don't need to know them all; you just need to add a TXT record (so Google is sure that you own this domain) and a CNAME record (to link your website). Google Sites does make this part quite difficult because you need to make more manipulations so that if a user forgets to type "www" at the start of your website name, they don't end up with an error, but instead see your website.

The types of records we are interested in are:

TXT Record for Ownership Verification

TXT—A simple text record that can store any random information. When you try to add a custom domain name to a Google Site, Google will give you instructions on how to verify your ownership of this domain. It will give you text, like "google-site-verification=blah-blah-blah", that you need to add as a new line. If it asks about the Host/Name, use @, set the Type to TXT, and paste the text Google gave you. Then, hit save. Usually, after a few minutes, you can go back and hit "Verify" on the page where Google gave you this text, and the process will continue.

CNAME Record for Linking the Site

CNAME—After you have verified your ownership, you need to tell people's browsers where to look; that is what this record does. For Google Sites, you need to create a new record where the Host/Name would be www, the Type is CNAME, and the Value is ghs.googlehosted.com. Then, hit save. It also takes some time, but usually, after a few minutes, you can type your name with www (e.g., www.yourname.com) in the browser, and voilà, you can see your published site. But wait, there is one more thing.

Dealing with the Root Domain

I don't know why, but Google does not provide any IP addresses, only the link ghs.googlehosted.com, and your records should have at least one A record. After you purchase the domain, it will point to some empty server that will show an error. If we do not address this, anyone who types yourname.com will see only an error page or nothing, not your site.

In the most basic scenario, we will use the free service redirect.name to deal with this.

To apply this, you will need to find the A record with the name @ (or blank), and change its IP Value to 45.55.72.95.

Then, create one more TXT record with the Host/Name set to _redirect, the Type set to TXT, and the Value set to "Redirects from /* to www.yourname.com/*".

After a few minutes, that service will create a rule, and anyone who tries to input yourname.com in their browser will end up on your site. Congratulations!