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Guide

Connect your own domain to your Submerce store

To connect a domain you own, add two DNS records where the domain is managed: a TXT record that proves the domain is yours, and a CNAME record that points www (or your subdomain) at your store. Then click Verify DNS in Settings › Domains. This guide covers the steps at GoDaddy, Hostinger, BigRock, Namecheap, Cloudflare and Squarespace (where Google Domains moved).

Last updated:

On this page
  1. What the two records do
  2. Before you start
  3. Step by step
  4. Bare domains and www
  5. Steps by registrar
  6. How long DNS takes
  7. After you verify
  8. Questions

Key takeaways

  • The TXT record at _submerce proves you control the domain. The CNAME record on www or your subdomain points it at your store.
  • Copy the exact names and values from Settings › Domains. Every domain gets its own TXT value.
  • A bare domain like your-store.in uses www.your-store.in for the store. Forward the bare domain to www at your registrar.
  • New records often show within a few hours but can take up to 24 to 48 hours to reach everywhere. Then click Verify DNS.
  • Your store goes live on your domain when the Submerce storefront launches. Verifying now gets the domain ready.

What do the two DNS records do?

DNS records are short instructions stored with your domain. Submerce asks for two of them, and shows both, with copy buttons, in Settings › Domains as soon as you connect a domain.

RecordName for your-store.inName for shop.your-store.inValue
TXTProves the domain is yours_submerce_submerce.shopsubmerce-verify= followed by your domain’s own code, shown in your dashboard
CNAMEPoints your store’s address at Submercewwwshopstores.submerce.in (copy it from your dashboard)

The names are written the way most DNS panels want them: the panel adds your domain to the end for you, so you type _submerce, not _submerce.your-store.in. If your provider asks for the full name, use _submerce.your-store.in and www.your-store.in. In Settings › Domains, hover over a name to see its full form.

Each store that adds a domain gets its own TXT value, so only the person who controls the domain’s DNS can verify it. If another store has added your domain, your record decides: the store whose TXT value is found holds the domain.

What do you need before you start?

  • A domain you own, like your-store.in. Your own domain comes with the Starter, Growth and Pro plans; on Free your store stays at yourname.submerce.in.
  • A login for the place where your domain’s DNS is managed. That is usually the registrar where you bought the domain, or a DNS host such as Cloudflare if you moved your nameservers there. Records only work in the DNS panel your nameservers point to.
  • Your Submerce dashboard open at Settings › Domains, so you can copy the records.

How do I connect my domain, step by step?

  1. In your Submerce dashboard, open Settings › Domains, type your domain (for example your-store.in or shop.your-store.in) and click Connect domain.
  2. The DNS records card shows the TXT and CNAME records for that domain. Keep it open.
  3. Sign in where your domain’s DNS is managed and open its DNS records.
  4. Add the TXT record: type TXT, the name from your dashboard (_submerce for a bare domain) and the submerce-verify=… value. Leave the TTL as it is.
  5. Add the CNAME record: type CNAME, name www (or your subdomain) and value stores.submerce.in. If a record with that name already exists, edit it instead of adding a second one: a name that has a CNAME can’t hold any other record.
  6. For a bare domain, forward your-store.in to https://www.your-store.in at your registrar (next section).
  7. Wait a little, then click Verify DNS. Each record shows Verified, Not found or Wrong value, and the domain is verified when both are right.

What if my domain has no www, like your-store.in?

The bare domain, written @ in DNS panels, can’t take a CNAME at most registrars. GoDaddy and Squarespace don’t accept @ as a CNAME name, Namecheap asks you not to set one there because it can break email, and Hostinger points the root with an ALIAS record instead.

So for a bare domain Submerce puts the CNAME on www, and your store answers at www.your-store.in. To send people who type your-store.in to the same place, use your registrar’s domain forwarding (also called a redirect) from the bare domain to https://www.your-store.in, as a permanent (301) redirect. The registrar steps below include it.

Two-part endings count as bare domains too: for your-store.co.in, the CNAME goes on www and the store answers at www.your-store.co.in. A subdomain such as shop.your-store.in needs no forwarding: its CNAME goes on shop itself.

How do I add the records at my registrar?

Short steps for the registrars Indian sellers use most, checked against each one’s own help pages (linked under each). Menus change from time to time, so if a button has moved, the linked page has the current one.

GoDaddy

  1. Sign in to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio, select your domain to open its Domain Settings page, then select DNS.
  2. Select Add New Record, choose TXT from the Type menu, enter the Name (_submerce) and the Value from your dashboard, and select Save.
  3. For the CNAME, look for a record named www first: GoDaddy’s most common CNAME is www pointing to @. If it’s there, select Edit next to it and change the Value to stores.submerce.in. If not, select Add New Record and choose CNAME. Select Save.
  4. Bare domain: select DNS, then Forwarding, then Add Forwarding. Choose Domain, pick https://, enter www.your-store.in, choose Permanent (301) and select Save. GoDaddy notes that forwarding moves the domain to GoDaddy nameservers, so use it only if your DNS is at GoDaddy.

Domains with Domain Protection ask for a verification code before saving. GoDaddy says most DNS changes take effect within an hour but can take up to 48 hours.

Official help: Add a TXT record · Add a CNAME record · Edit a CNAME record · Forward my GoDaddy domain

Hostinger

  1. In the Hostinger dashboard, choose Domains in the left sidebar, click DNS and select your domain. The DNS records tab opens.
  2. In the Manage DNS records card, choose Type TXT, enter the Name (_submerce) and the value from your dashboard, keep the default TTL and click Add Record.
  3. Add the CNAME the same way: Type CNAME, Name www (or your subdomain) and stores.submerce.in as the target. If the list already has a www record, edit it with the pencil icon instead. If Hostinger CDN is on for the domain, Hostinger suggests turning it off before you change the www CNAME.
  4. Bare domain: go to Domains, click Manage next to your domain, open DNS / Nameservers and the Redirects tab. Enter https://www.your-store.in in Redirect to, choose Permanent (301) and click Create redirect.

These panels work when the domain uses Hostinger’s nameservers; if they point elsewhere, add the records there. Hostinger says DNS changes can take up to 24 hours, and a redirect usually takes about an hour to start working.

Official help: How to manage DNS records · TXT records · CNAME records · How to redirect a domain

BigRock

  1. Log in at myorders.bigrock.in, go to Orders and click your domain.
  2. Click DNS Records, then Add Record. Add the TXT record, then the CNAME, with the names and values from your dashboard, and click Save. If a www record is already listed, change it with its Edit icon instead.
  3. This panel is for domains on BigRock’s own nameservers (dns1.bigrock.in to dns4.bigrock.in). If your domain uses the nameservers of a BigRock Linux hosting plan, add the records in cPanel: Go to cPanel, Zone Editor, Manage next to the domain, then Add Record.
  4. Bare domain: in the control panel, find your domain and open its Domain Forwarding option. Add a forwarding entry with www.your-store.in as the destination URL and click Save. Keep URL Masking off, so visitors see your www address.

BigRock says DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to reach everywhere, and most records show within 6 to 8 hours.

Official help: How to add DNS records under the BigRock DNS panel · DNS records under cPanel · Set up domain forwarding

Namecheap

  1. Sign in, open Domain List and click Manage next to your domain. Open the Advanced DNS tab.
  2. Click Add New Record under Host Records, choose TXT Record, enter _submerce as the Host (without your domain) and the value from your dashboard, then click Save All Changes.
  3. Add a CNAME Record with Host www (or your subdomain) and Value stores.submerce.in. A CNAME blocks every other record on its host, so remove any other CNAME, URL Redirect, ALIAS or A record on www.
  4. Bare domain: add a URL Redirect Record with Host @, Value https://www.your-store.in and Redirect Type Permanent (301). Remove any A, CNAME, ALIAS or other redirect record on @ that points somewhere else.

These steps are for Namecheap BasicDNS, PremiumDNS and FreeDNS; on Namecheap Web Hosting DNS, add the records in cPanel. Namecheap says new records normally take effect in about 30 minutes.

Official help: How do I add TXT records · How to create a CNAME record · How to set up a URL redirect

Cloudflare

If your domain’s nameservers point to Cloudflare, add the records there, wherever you bought the domain.

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, open your domain’s DNS Records page and select Add record.
  2. Choose Type TXT, enter _submerce as the Name, paste the value from your dashboard and select Save.
  3. Add another record: Type CNAME, Name www (or your subdomain), Target stores.submerce.in, and set Proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud). Select Save. A proxied (orange cloud) CNAME is answered with Cloudflare’s own addresses instead of the CNAME, so Verify DNS can’t see it.
  4. Bare domain: Cloudflare can only redirect traffic it proxies. If @ has no record yet, add a proxied A record with Name @ and IPv4 address 192.0.2.1, the address Cloudflare documents for names that only redirect. Then open Rules, Overview, select Create rule › Redirect Rule, choose Wildcard pattern, set the Request URL to https://your-store.in/* and the Target URL to https://www.your-store.in/${1}, Status code 301, keep Preserve query string on and select Deploy.

Official help: Manage DNS records · Proxy status · Redirect one domain to another · Redirect from root to WWW · Create a redirect rule

Squarespace, including domains from Google Domains

Google Domains registrations moved to Squarespace, which acquired them on 7 September 2023. Sign in at squarespace.com/login; if you were a Google Domains customer, choose Continue with Google with the Google account you used there.

  1. Open your domains dashboard and click the domain. Click DNS, then DNS Settings.
  2. Scroll to Custom Records and click Add record (Squarespace may ask for your password or two-factor code). Choose TXT, enter _submerce in Name (Squarespace adds your domain itself), paste the value into Text and click Save.
  3. Add another record: CNAME, Name www (or your subdomain), Data stores.submerce.in, then Save. If you see a Squarespace Defaults section, the domain is connected to a Squarespace site: Squarespace says it can’t point elsewhere while those defaults are in place, and deleting them disconnects that site.
  4. Bare domain: click Website, then Add rule under Domain Forwarding Rules. Enter @ as the Subdomain and www.your-store.in (without https://) as the website URL, choose Permanent Redirect (301) and Maintain paths, then click Save.

If your domain uses custom nameservers, add the records with that DNS provider instead. Squarespace says forwarding can take up to 48 hours to update.

Official help: About the Google Domains migration · Adding TXT records · DNS records for web hosting · Pointing a Squarespace domain · Forwarding a domain

How long does DNS take to update?

How quickly a new record shows depends on the provider: Namecheap says about 30 minutes, GoDaddy says most changes take effect within an hour, and BigRock says most records show within 6 to 8 hours. A change can take up to 24 to 48 hours to reach every DNS server.

Verify DNS looks both records up live each time you click it and saves the result with the time. If a record shows Not found, give it a while and click again. Wrong value means a record with that name exists but holds something else; for the CNAME, Settings › Domains shows what it found.

What happens after my domain is verified?

When both records are right, the domain shows Verified in Settings › Domains and you can make it your primary domain.

When your store opens on the domain. Submerce is launching soon. Your store starts answering on your domain, with SSL, when the Submerce storefront launches. Until then, verifying proves the domain is yours and gets it ready.

Keep both records in place after verifying. If your TXT record is removed and another store’s record for the same domain is found, the domain moves to that store.

Questions about connecting a domain

Can I use a subdomain, like shop.your-store.in?

Yes. Enter the subdomain in Settings › Domains. The CNAME then goes on the subdomain itself (Name shop) and the TXT record on _submerce.shop, and no forwarding is needed. The rest of your domain, such as a website on your-store.in, stays as it is.

Will connecting my domain affect my email?

The two records don’t touch your MX records, which route email, so email on your domain keeps working. Leave the MX records as they are while you edit your DNS.

Why does Verify DNS say “Not found”?

The record may not have reached every DNS server yet, it may be in a DNS panel your domain doesn’t use (check where its nameservers point), or the name may hold your domain twice, like _submerce.your-store.in.your-store.in. On Cloudflare, set the CNAME to DNS only. Fix it, wait a while and click Verify DNS again.

Why does a record say “Wrong value”?

A record with that name exists but holds another value, such as an older www CNAME pointing to @, or a TXT value from an earlier attempt. A domain you remove and connect again gets a new TXT value. Edit the record to match your dashboard.

Can I buy a domain through Submerce?

Not yet. Buy your domain from any registrar, then connect it in Settings › Domains. Buying a domain through Submerce shows as Soon there.

Stuck on a step?

Write to the Submerce team with your domain name and what Verify DNS shows for each record.

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