Point GoDaddy DNS to Flywheel

Domains registered with GoDaddy can take advantage of Flywheel’s partnership with Domain Connect, which allows Flywheel to set up DNS records with GoDaddy on your behalf. If you’d like to point your domain manually instead, follow these instructions after adding the domain to your Flywheel site.

Add the domain to your Flywheel site

1. From the site’s Overview tab, click the (+) icon in the Domains list to add the domain you’d like to point to Flywheel.
   
2. Fill out the domain information:
   
   • Enter the URL in the Domain field
   • Check the box to set the domain to Primary (if this will be your site’s main URL)
   • By default, the www version of the domain will be added (uncheck the box to skip this step)
   • Select Yes for “Have you purchased this domain?”
   • Click Next. In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.

Log in to GoDaddy and authorize changes

1. Click the Login to GoDaddy button, which will take you to your GoDaddy dashboard to sign in.
   
2. Once you’re signed in, click Connect to authorize Flywheel to make DNS changes.
   
3. If the www version of your domain was added as well, click Point www in GoDaddy to authorize changes for this subdomain.

Complete the domain setup

1. Once DNS is updated at GoDaddy, you’ll be taken back to the Flywheel dashboard. Click Back to Site to return to the Overview page.
2. Repeat the steps above (leaving Primary unchecked) to add any secondary domains.

Manually point DNS

• First, add the domain to your Flywheel site.
• In a separate tab, log in to the GoDaddy administration panel.
• On the My Products page, locate the domain you want to point to Flywheel.
  
• Click the DNS button.
  

Edit the current A record

There’s a good chance you’ll see several records on the DNS page, especially if your domain was pointed to a different host previously. For now, we’re just going to be concerned with the A record, since it’s the record responsible for pointing your domain to your website.

Be careful about modifying or deleting any other records – especially MX records, which are responsible for email. Also, it never hurts to take a screenshot before you start making changes.

1. Locate the A Record.
2. Edit the A Record by clicking the pencil icon.
3. Set Host to @
   
   Note: The @ symbol serves as a placeholder for the root level domain. In this case, it stands for thisfinedomain.com.
4. Enter your IP address under Points To. In this example, the IP is 151.101.66.159.
5. Usually, there’s no need to adjust TTL, which stands for Time To Live. For more information on TTL, check out this help article: DNS: What is TTL?
6. Click Save to apply the changes.

Unless you have a subdomain setup, for example shop.thisfinedomain.com, you should only need one A record value. At the very least, make sure that you have one A record with @ set as the host which is pointing to your Flywheel IP address.

For more information, visit GoDaddy’s help article on creating/updating A records.

Optional: Configure CNAME record for www

We recommend you also set a CNAME record in your zone file to allow the use of the www prefix. A CNAME (aka canonical name) points a subdomain to another domain name.

For example, with a CNAME in place, visitors entering www.thisfinedomain.com in their browser will be re-routed to thisfinedomain.com. Without a CNAME record, visitors will instead reach an error page.

1. Click Add under the Records table.
2. Under Type, select CNAME.
3. Enter www under Host.
   
4. Enter @ under Points to.
5. Click Save to apply the changes.

For more information, visit GoDaddy’s help article on creating CNAME records.

Double-check your work

1. Check GoDaddy’s DNS Management page to make sure the record changes have been updated. Your records should look like this (with your domain’s information instead of the example domain here):
   
2. After propagation, you can also verify your domain is successfully pointed to Flywheel by clicking the Check DNS button.
   
3. Once your site is pointed to Flywheel, the status will switch to ✅ Pointed and the domain registrar will be displayed as well.
   

FAQ

My domain is registered through GoDaddy, but Domain Connect isn’t working. What do I do?

If you run into any snags, it’s a good idea to double-check the following first:

• Make sure you complete the entire process. After you log in to GoDaddy and approve the DNS changes, you should be taken back to the Flywheel dashboard and see a “Success! Your domain is now connected to Flywheel.” message. If that doesn’t sound familiar, try adding your domain again.
• Make sure you log in to the correct GoDaddy account. If not, you’ll be unable to authorize the changes.
• Make sure you’re using GoDaddy’s nameservers. If you have custom nameservers specified, Flywheel will not be able to make changes. You can view and edit your domain’s name servers by following this GoDaddy help article.
• Make sure your GoDaddy domain contains a CNAME record for _domainconnect. If not, you can create one using the settings pictured below. If this CNAME record is missing, Flywheel will not be able to connect with GoDaddy.

I pointed the domain successfully, but my site isn’t loading in my browser. What do I need to do?

Most likely, you just need to wait a few minutes, as there is a delay between the time DNS changes are made and when they go into effect. This is known as propagation time.

DNS changes by nature can take 24-48 hours to fully update across the entire internet, though it’s generally much quicker. By default, GoDaddy sets the Time to Live (TTL) setting for each record to 1 hour, so you should see your changes go live within that timeframe.

Still need help?

If you get stuck or have any questions along the way, we’d love to help! Reach out to our support team and we’d be glad to assist.