Connecting your GoDaddy domain to an Elementor hosted website

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.

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.

Before you begin

Before adding a custom domain name to your Elementor website, make sure you:

• Purchased an Elementor hosted website subscription and created a website.
• Purchased a domain name from GoDaddy.
• Have access to your GoDaddy login information.

Connecting your domain to your Elementor hosted website

1. From your Elementor Cloud Dashboard, go to Websites and click the Manage This Website button located in your website’s card. This opens the Site Details screen. 
2. In the Manage Domains section, click Connect my domain.
   
   A popup window opens
3. In the popup window, enter the custom domain name you purchased and click Let’s begin. Use the domain name without www in front of it. 

By default, the system uses the name you entered as the primary domain and will 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.)

Note: Domain connection can take up to 72 hours. 

Editing the domain name settings with your provider

1. If the default checkboxes are okay, click Let’s begin.
   
2. Open a new tab in your browser, and if you haven’t already, sign into your GoDaddy account. 
3. Once signed in, go back to the Elementor tab and click I signed in, what’s next?
   

Adding the DNS records

1. On the GoDaddy  side panel,, click Domain.
   
2. Navigate to the domain you want to use for your Elementor hosted website. 
3. Now that you’ve found your domain settings, go back to the Elementor tab, and click Found it, what’s next?
   
4. Go back to theGoDaddy dashboard, and click Manage DNS to find your DNS records.
5. Once you’ve located the records, go back to the Elementor tab,and click Found them, what’s next?
   
   You can now access the A record and CNAM of your Elementor hosted website.
6. In the Update your DNS records section, under A record and/or CNAME value, click the copy icon to copy the A record and/or CNAME from the Elementor tab.
   
7. Go back to the GoDaddy tab and paste in the A record or CNAME as detailed below.

Add an A record

Important: If your domain DNS records have an AAAA (IPv6) record set, you’ll need to delete it because IPv6 isn’t compatible with Elementor hosted websites yet.

The DNS Management page is where you’ll create an A record for your domain. If your domain already has an A record set to “Parked” or another address, you’ll have to delete it.

1. Click the Add button.
2. Go to theType field and select an A record from the dropdown.
3. Navigate to the Name field and enter the ‘@’ symbol (root).
4. In the Value field, paste in the IP address of your Elementor hosted website. This is the number you copied from the Elementor tab.
5. From the TTL dropdown menu, select the 1 Hour option.
6. Click Add Record.

Using a CNAME record for the www address

To direct the “www” address to your Elementor hosted website, you need to create a CNAME record with the host name set to “www”. You may  already have a CNAME record for the “www” address set to your domain. If you do, you can leave this as-is. If you don’t have a “www” address in your list, you  need to add it from the DNS Management page.

To do so, follow these steps: 

1. Click Add.
2. Navigate to the Type dropdown menu and select CNAME.
3. Select the Name field and enter the “www”.
4. Go to the Value field and enter your primary domain.
5. Find the TTL dropdown menu and select the 1 Hour option.
6. Click Add Record.

Alternative CNAME method

You can also point your domain to your cloud account by adding a CNAME record that points your domain to your Elementor hosted website domain. For example, if your domain name is example.com and your Elementor website is example.elementor.cloud, create a CNAME record with example.com that points to example.elementor.cloud.

Finishing up

1. Go back to the Elementor tab.
2. Click I updated my records. Connect my domain.

So what’s next?

1. Wait for the DNS changes to propagate (this can take up to 72 hours).
2. We’ll issue an SSL certificate for your website.
3. When your domain is ready, we’ll notify you by email.

To get the most out of Elementor, head over to the Elementor Academy for more learning resources. If you have any issues or need help, please contact our Support Center.