What does "point a domain" mean?
A domain is your website's address. DNS is like a phone book for the internet. It turns that address into a number that computers understand. Pointing a domain means telling the phone book to send visitors to your Shopify store.
Shopify is an online shop builder. Your store starts with an address such as yourstore.myshopify.com. You can use your own domain instead.
Before you start
- Log in to your Shopify admin.
- Know where your DNS is edited. If your nameservers are Hostvento's, log in at https://secure.hostvento.com/clientarea.php.
- Save your current DNS records. A wrong change can break your site or email.
Steps
- In Shopify admin, open Settings.
- Click Domains.
- Click Connect existing domain.
- Type your domain name and click Next.
- Shopify shows what to change. Keep this page open.
- Open the DNS zone editor for your domain.
- Find the A record whose host is
@. An A record points a name to a number address. - Change its value to the IP address Shopify shows. Shopify has long used
23.227.38.65, but check the value on the Shopify screen. - Find the
wwwrecord. Make it a CNAME record that points toshops.myshopify.com. A CNAME record points one name to another name. - Save. Go back to Shopify and click Verify connection.
Tip: Delete other A or CNAME records for the same names. They can clash with the new ones. Do not touch MX records, which control your email.
Make it the main address
After the domain connects, go to Settings and Domains again. Click Change primary domain. Pick the one you want visitors to see.
Security and waiting
Shopify adds the https lock for you. This can take up to a day. The DNS change itself needs time to spread. This is called propagation.
If you get stuck, open a ticket at https://secure.hostvento.com/submitticket.php.
Quick recap
- Start in Shopify under Settings and Domains.
- Set the A record for the bare domain.
- Set the www CNAME to shops.myshopify.com.
- Verify in Shopify and set the primary domain.
- Wait for propagation.