Connecting your custom domain may feel intimidating at first, but we're here to help!
This guide will go over the steps you'll need to take to get your Squarespace domain connected to your Podia site.
Adding your custom domain to Podia
To set up your custom domain, go to Settings > Domain and enter the custom domain you'd like your Podia Site to live on.
You can either link up your root domain (e.g. www.yourdomain.com) or a subdomain (e.g. courses.yourdomain.com, learn.yourdomain.com, shop.yourdomain.com, etc.)
Add a CNAME record in Squarespace
As long as you've registered your domain through Squarespace or you've connected a third-party domain via their Nameserver connect, you can update the domain's DNS records in the Domains panel in Squarepace.
In the Domains panel, you'll navigate down to Domains managed by Squarespace.
Click on the domain you'd like to manage, then choose DNS settings.
Scroll down to custom records, and click Add record.
Select the type CNAME, and add the values listed below.
Host
www (if you'd like to use a root www.yourdomain.com)
OR
courses, academy, learn (that will depend on the subdomain you'd like to use, such as: courses.yourdomain.com, academy.yourdomain.com, learn.yourdomain.com, etc.)
Data
sites.podia.com (this is the exact value you need to add. Do NOT change this to your Podia subdomain or it will not work)
After all of this information is input, click on Save to save your changes!
For users who have opted to use their root domain with a CNAME record named www, there is one last step outlined below.
Setting up forwarding to the naked domain
To ensure that your users will have access to your site via the non-www version of your address you will need to set up forwarding through a third party in order to indicate that the non-www version should load the www version of your site.
For example, if you connected your custom domain to Podia with www.mysite.com, we need to use a third party to instruct mysite.com to direct to www.mysite.com.
To complete this step, we recommend using redirect.pizza. You can view our guide on how to set this up here.
FAQ & Troubleshooting
Help! I'm getting an error message when I try to add my CNAME record!
Help! I'm getting an error message when I try to add my CNAME record!
Most of the time when folks run into an error message during the adding of their CNAME in Squarespace, it is because of a duplicate entry.
Squarespace automatically adds default records - including a CNAME one - and you might need to remove it first.
Make sure you first remove the default Squarespace records before you add a CNAME record pointing out to Podia.
Squarespace is asking for your IP address. Can I have it?
Squarespace is asking for your IP address. Can I have it?
To connect a CNAME, an IP address won't be necessary! We rotate IPs of our servers regularly, as our developers are always rolling out updated servers with the latest security patches and software updates. It's a measure that keeps you and your audience more secure! 💪
We encourage you to follow the steps outlined in this article to connect a CNAME record rather than an A record.
Everything's set up, but my CNAME still isn't working!
Everything's set up, but my CNAME still isn't working!
If 48 hours have passed and your CNAME isn't working, double-check that you have the correct values in the right fields. It needs to be sites.podia.com. No other value will work.
Still stuck? Send us an email with screenshots of your current DNS settings alongside any error messages that you're receiving, and we'll work together with you to resolve the issue!