This page will go over the steps you need to configure your Google Apps
account as well as your domain settings to set a Google Site up as a
public website with the domain you want. You will need full control of your domain name account in order to complete these steps.Configure Google Sites- The first thing you need to do is make sure your Site is open to the
public. Go you your site and click on "More Actions" (in top right)
> then "Share this site". Once on that page make sure the box for
"Anyone in the world may view this site (make it public)" is checked, then save it.
- Next, go to your Google Apps Dashboard > click on "Sites" and click
on "web address mapping". Click on the link to "Add a new web
address". The next screen will prompt you for the last part of the site
you are trying to map. For this site (apps-tips.info), I had created
my site to be
"https://sites.google.com/a/apps-tips.info/google-apps-tips/" so for the
first field "Site Location" I entered "google-apps-tips", for the
second field "Web Address" I entered "www". Then click on the Add
Mapping button and you are done with that area.
Configure
your DNS Domain Settings for your Google Site
- Now
you have to have access to your DNS settings where you registered your
domain name. I will be walking through the steps for a Godaddy.com
account. I am going on the assumption that you have already configured
the DNS setting so you can get your mail. So click on the "Total DNS
Control" link. This will bring you to all your DNS settings. You need
to modify the existing CNAME record with the Host Name "www". If you
don't already have one, you need to Add New CNAME record". Where it
says "Enter an Alias Name" enter "www". Where is says "Points to Host
Name" enter "ghs.google.com". Click the OK button and your site should
be configured correctly. Please note that it sometimes takes from a
couple of minutes to multiple hours before the changes are visible.
Once the changes have made their way through the system, you should be able to browse to your site using your domain name, but only if there is a "www" in front of your domain name. So if somebody browses to your website, for example "scoutingsite.com", they would end up at GoDaddy.com. Below is the final part of the setup.
Configure your Domain to forward to your www
Address
- You need to be in your Domain manager again. For this example I will be going through the steps for a GoDaddy.com domain account. This is the final step to set up your free Google Apps website to your personal domain.
- In the Domain Info column, click on "Manage" link (see below)
- then once that pops up fill in your complete site name (with the "www" in the beginning). Then click on the Advanced Options link and select the radio button in front of Forward Only. Once complete, you can save it then let the changes filter through all the servers. After the changes have been made you will be able to browse to your site using the root domain without the "www".
If you want to test it out, try it on this site. This is the way I configured it.
These instructions were accurate on Sept 28, 2010.
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