Blogger Custom Domain Setup
A domain bought from a registrar needs two CNAME records, four A records and a few Blogger settings before the blog answers at its new address.
On this page
To set up a custom domain on Blogger, bloggers start in Blogger's settings, tell Blogger the domain they bought, and then add DNS records at the registrar or DNS host. Blogger's interface labels can change over time, so the menu names below are the ones Blogger Help currently documents.
Enter the Domain and Add the CNAME Records
In the blog dashboard, open Settings in the left menu, and under Publishing click Custom domain. Enter the address of the domain, including the subdomain, such as www.example.com, and save. Blogger cannot host a blog on the naked domain itself, so the blog lives on www (or another subdomain such as blog).
Blogger then asks for two CNAME records, which are added in the DNS panel of the registrar or DNS hosting service:
- Blog CNAME: Name
www(or the chosen subdomain), Destinationghs.google.com. - Security CNAME: a Name and Destination unique to the blog and the Google Account. Blogger shows both values in the message that appears after the domain is saved; copy them exactly.
Add a new CNAME record for each, save the changes, then return to Blogger and save the domain again. Blogger Help says to wait at least one hour for the DNS settings to activate, and notes that DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect.
Redirect the Naked Domain
So that example.com forwards to www.example.com, add four A records for the naked domain (host @, or left blank, depending on the DNS panel), each pointing to one of Google's IP addresses:
216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21Then, back in Settings, under Publishing, turn on Redirect domain (example.com to www.example.com). Blogger Help also notes that it may take up to 24 hours for the old blogspot.com address to redirect to the custom domain.
Enable HTTPS and Troubleshoot
After the custom domain works, turn on HTTPS. In Settings, under HTTPS, set HTTPS availability to Yes. Once the certificate is ready, set HTTPS redirect to Yes so visitors always reach the secure version and browsers do not flag the blog as insecure. If the domain uses CAA records, add one for letsencrypt.org; otherwise Blogger cannot create or renew the SSL certificate.
If the custom domain isn't working, first compare both CNAME records character by character with what Blogger displayed, especially the security CNAME. Check that old A records or conflicting records for www were removed, and give DNS changes time to propagate before trying again. If the records are correct and the error persists, the domain provider's support can confirm what their DNS server is actually publishing.
