NOTE: DOMAIN SETUP IS NOT APART OF YOUR TEMPLATE SERVICE. THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROVIDED AS A COURTESY ONLY. YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT YOUR DOMAIN SERVICE PROVIDER FOR ASSISTANCE.
Make sure your site is published and note its published URL
Sign in to your Google Workspace admin console
Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Sites and open Custom URL
Use the Add custom URL button (the ✚ icon) and follow the steps in the dialogue box:
Site type: choose New Sites
Google Sites URL: Enter your published URL in the format sites.google.com/domain.com/sitename
Remove the https://
and any page URL such as /home or /about
Custom URL: Enter the subdomain prefix you want to use as the custom URL, e.g. www
CNAME: edit your DNS records with your domain provider (this is outside of Google Workspace and Google Sites) to add a www CNAME record that points to ghs.googlehosted.com and once added use the ADD CUSTOM URL button
You should see the status set to Pending while Google configures the backend (normally takes 30-60 minutes).
If you just purchased your domain or google site - Give it time. You may have to retry in about an hour if it does connect.
THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROVIDED AS A COURTESY ONLY. YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT YOUR DOMAIN SERVICE PROVIDER FOR ASSISTANCE.
1. Publish your Site Publicly
Your custom domain URL will not work unless your site is published and shared with the public. For full instructions see Sharing and Publishing
2. Verify domain ownership - Search Console
Go to the Google Search Console and Add property
In the Domain option (not URL Prefix) add the top-level domain, sometimes called the naked domain, without http:// or https:// prefixed to it (e.g. example.com) your site cannot use this address but you need to verify ownership of this entire domain.
Use the Instructions for: Any DNS Provider. Copy the TXT record that Google Search Console gives you as a value to add to your DNS records.
3. Add DNS Records with your domain provider
These are the DNS records you need to add to make the custom URL point to your personal Google Site:
Add a TXT record with a name/host/subdomain (whatever term your domain provider uses) of @ and the value/data/target use the text string copied from Google Search Console mentioned above
Add a CNAME record with a name/host/subdomain of www (or whatever subdomain you want to use) that points to ghs.googlehosted.com.
If your domain provider lets you redirect your naked domain to the subdomain address (e.g. make example.com redirect to www.example.com) then configure that
If you use Google Domains you can use its Synthetic records to get both your http:// and https:// top-level domain redirected as demonstrated in our full-screen video at 6:40.
If you want both your http and your https top=level/naked domain to redirect to your www address then you can use NakedSSL free of charge for one domain.
Alternatively add an A record of @ (or your naked domain) that points to 174.129.25.170 (a free service from wwwizer.com)
Once the top-level domain is verified (may take hours depending on how quickly your domain name provider updates its public DNS records) you can then add a subdomain of your domain as a custom URL to your new Google Site: follow the steps below to make this custom URL web address mapping.
4. Assign the custom URL to a new Google Site
Use the Settings (looks like a cog/gear) near the Publish button
Choose the Custom URLs option
In the box labeled www.yourdomain.com enter your domain with www. prefixed to it, e.g. www.example.com
Close the Settings dialogue box.
Once assigned it takes Google a little time to configure everything for your site at the back-end and the site will appear at the custom URL (provided you have published the site).
5. Check the published site's sharing settings are set to public
If your site redirects to the sites.google.com URL or asks visitors to sign in then your published site's sharing settings are not set to public - here is how to make your new Google Site public to anyone on the internet:
Open your new Google Site for editing
Use the Share with others button (looks like a person with a + )
In the Links section use the Change... link
For the Published site link choose the Public option and use the Done button.
If you can't see the Public option for the Published site then the most likely scenario is you use Google Workspace and your Google Workspace admin has restricted public sharing - you need to talk to your Google Workspace admin on how to change this - see Set Drive users' sharing permissions.
If you do want your site to be private then the custom URL will always redirect to the sites.google.com URL - this is by design.