Use your own domain

With a domain of your own, advertisers sign in at an address like ads.yoursite.com instead of ours, and every new ad tag you hand out carries it. It comes with the Pro plan and takes one record in your domain's DNS. The Branding page tells you exactly what to type, and where.

On Starter, the Branding page shows a Change plan link where this card would be. It opens your subscription, and CHANGE PLAN there moves you to Pro at once. Moving back to Starter waits for the end of the month you have paid for. Your own domain switches off then, and ad tags that use it stop showing ads until you move back to Pro.

Before you start

• A domain you own, such as yoursite.com.
• The login for wherever its DNS is managed. That is usually the company you bought the domain from, unless you moved your DNS somewhere like Cloudflare.
• About five minutes.

Open Branding in the admin panel and find the Your own domain card. It has three steps, and it fills in the details as you go.

Step 1: choose the address

Pick a new name under your domain that nothing uses yet. ads.yoursite.com and advertise.yoursite.com both read well. Type it in and press Save and check.

Not yoursite.com itself, and not www or mail. Those are your website and your email, and pointing them here would take them down. A main domain also cannot carry this kind of record at most DNS hosts. The card turns those away before you touch anything.

Step 2: add the record

Once the address is saved, the card shows the exact record to add, with a copy button next to each value, and names the company your DNS is at. It looks like this:

Box	What goes in it
Type	CNAME
Name	Only the first part of your address, such as ads
Target	The address the card shows. Copy it rather than typing it.
TTL	Leave it as it is

Put only the first part in Name. Your DNS host adds .yoursite.com by itself, so at most of them the whole address in Name makes ads.yoursite.com.yoursite.com. That is the commonest reason the check fails.

Where your DNS is

The record has to go where your domain's DNS is answered from, and the card tells you where that is. It is not always where you bought the domain. If you bought it at one company and moved the DNS to Cloudflare, the record goes in Cloudflare. A record added anywhere else is never read.

What each DNS host calls things

Every host has the same three boxes under different labels. This is where to go, and what they are called, at the common ones.

DNS host	Where the records are	Name box	Target box
Cloudflare	Your domain, DNS, Records, then Add record	Name	Target
GoDaddy	Domain Portfolio, your domain, DNS, then Add New Record	Name	Value
Namecheap	Domain List, Manage, Advanced DNS, then Add New Record, type CNAME Record	Host	Value
Squarespace	Domains, your domain, DNS, then Add record under Custom records	Name	Data
Hostinger	Domains, DNS, then your domain	Name	Target
Bluehost	Domains, Manage, the DNS tab, then Add Record under CNAME	Host Record	Points To
SiteGround	Site Tools, Domain, DNS Zone Editor, the CNAME tab	Name	Resolves to
Wix	Domains, the three dots, Manage DNS Records, then Add Record under CNAME (Aliases)	Host Name	Value
IONOS	Domains & SSL, the gear, DNS, then Add record and CNAME	Host name	Points to
Porkbun	Domain Management, then DNS under your domain	Host	Answer
Amazon Route 53	Hosted zones, your domain, then Create record	Record name	Value
DigitalOcean	Networking, Domains, your domain, the CNAME tab	Hostname	Is an alias of
Vercel	Domains, then your domain	Name	Value

On Cloudflare, switch the cloud off. Set Proxy status on the record to DNS only, the grey cloud. With the orange cloud on, Cloudflare answers for the name itself and hides the record, so the check cannot see it.

Anywhere else, look for a page called DNS, DNS records, Zone Editor or Advanced DNS, add a record, and fill in the same boxes.

Step 3: we check it

Press Check now on the card whenever you like. Otherwise we check every five minutes by ourselves. New records usually show within a few minutes, and now and then take up to an hour.

Once the record is found, the card moves through these on its own:

Pointing at us

The record is right. On a free trial, this is where it waits: the domain switches on with your first payment.

Certificate being issued

The padlock for your address is being made. It usually takes under a minute, and there is nothing for you to do.

Ready, then live

Your panel moves onto the new address within a few minutes, and we email you when it has. Or press Go live on this domain to move straight away.

Once it is live, sign in at the new address. Your old address keeps working alongside it, so ad tags already on your publishers' sites carry on as they are. Every tag you hand out from then on carries your own domain.

If the check says it is not pointing at us

The card says why, in one of these ways. Fix what it says, then press Check now.

We cannot see a record yet

Give it a few minutes, up to an hour. If it has been longer, check the record is at the DNS host the card names, and that Name is exactly the first part of your address.

The whole address went into Name

The record was made for ads.yoursite.com.yoursite.com. Edit it so Name is just ads.

Your DNS host added your domain to the target

Some hosts add your domain to the end of any target that does not end in a full stop. Edit the record and put a full stop after the target, so it ends with a dot.

It points somewhere else

There is a CNAME record, but its target is not the one on the card. Copy the target from the card into it again.

Cloudflare is answering for it itself

The record is on the orange cloud. Set Proxy status to DNS only, and make sure the record is a CNAME.

It already answers with an address

There is an A record for that name, or a catch-all record that covers every name. If you use that name for something, pick a different one in step 1. If you do not, delete the A record and add the CNAME.

We cannot find the domain at all

Check the spelling, and that the domain is registered and has not expired.

Questions

Does this change my website?

No. The record is for the one new name you chose, and nothing else on your domain moves.

Do I need to buy a security certificate?

No. The padlock for your address is issued and renewed for you.

Can I change the domain later?

Until it goes live, yes: type a new one and press Save and check. Once it has been live, message us and we will open it up for you.

What if I stop paying?

Your panel goes back to its original address, and your domain and its record stay saved. Pay again and it comes back by itself.

Where to go next

• Brand your portal, so the pages behind the new address look like yours as well.
• Get advertisers on board, and hand them the new address.