Updated: March 4, 2024
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This is a rather large wall to climb for first time domain name owners. You went through the process of looking for the right domain name. You found it and seized the day. Now what? You realize there is a gap in knowledge between buying a domain and having it point to a website.
This article will take you through the process of linking your GoDaddy domain name to an external website. The focus is on websites created by other website builders or hosted on different cloud platforms. We have another article on how to connect your GoDaddy domain name to your GoDaddy created website.
Let’s get started!
Login
Go to the GoDaddy homepage and login using your credentials.
Go to your account
After you have logged in, the navigation bar will now show your name at the top.
From the image above, our navigation bar shows the name ‘Stacey’. It is to the top right.
Click on the name to get a drop down menu. On the drop down menu, you’ll see a link labeled My Products. It is right underneath the ‘ACCOUNT’ section header. Click on My Products.
The page redirects to your account where you’ll see your products listed.
Click on DNS on your domain name
The page lists the products you own in GoDaddy. It contains your domain names, websites and other additional products. You need to find the domain name you wish to connect to a website.
Look for your domain name.
In my case, I want to connect a domain name I own, Sizawi.com, to a website.
Click on DNS
Search for the A record
You should now be on your DNS records page.
A simple breakdown of DNS records is that domain names use them as instructions on how to handle requests. An A record contains an IP address. GoDaddy will direct users who search your domain name to the IP address you list in the A record. If you want to learn more about DNS records, check out this great article by Cloudflare.
My A record shows that it is parked, meaning that it's not pointing to a particular IP address
Click on Edit if you can see your A record.
Edit the A record value
A form appears to edit the value once you clicked on the edit button.
Edit the Value field. I have edited mine from parked to 0.0.0.0. Edit your value field to the IP address of your server. Your server is where you are hosting your website.
Consult with your website builder or hosting partner if you don’t know how to get your IP address.
Hit Save
Can’t find my A record
It is normal for new domain names to miss their A records. What you do in this case is create a new one.
Click on Add in the DNS page. The button is above the list of DNS records.
After clicking the Add button, you get a blank form. Fill in the details.
I’ve filled in the details so you can see how it’s supposed to look. You can keep the Type and Name field as mine are. Change the Value field to the IP address of the server hosting your website. The TTL (Time To Live) field has the amount of time the DNS servers will store the A record. A shorter amount of time will refresh the A record quicker. You can choose a longer TTL if you will not edit your A record anytime soon.
Hit Add record.
Wait a second
You will receive a notification that you have updated your A record. These changes may take time to reflect. It can be as little as a couple of minutes to as long as days. Keep searching the domain name in your browser to see if it points to your website. You will need to contact customer support if in a few days your domain name is not working.
A little something to keep in mind. If you search the website IP address on your browser and see the website, then the problem is in your domain name, then you can contact GoDaddy customer support. If you search the IP address and the browser can’t find your website, then the problem is in the website. Not in the domain name.
Check out our GoDaddy website builder review if you are still in the market for a website. They make it easy to create a website. The websites are great for both services and products. We go into the pros and cons and give you a clear picture of our experience.
See you on the next one.
Cover image by storyset on Freepik
