A client paid me today to set up a custom domain for his Blogger blog. I registered the domain name, created the normal CNAME (ghs.google.com) and created four separate A-records which point to four different Google IPs. (216.239.32.21; 216.239.34.21; 216.239.36.21 and 216.239.38.21). After I confirmed that the DNS servers have been updated, I decided to add the custom domain to the blog’s settings but to my surprise, the settings FAILED to save.
I noticed this error message “We are not able to resolve www.*******.com. It might take up to 24 hours for new domains to start working. Please try again later” on the page and right under the error message, I saw an instruction that I should enter two CNAMEs in my DNS settings.
I followed the instruction and within a short time, the blogspot address started redirecting perfectly to the custom domain. In fact, the naked domain also started redirecting to the “www” without me ticking the redirection option in Blogger Settings.
Thereafter, I decided to comb the web to find out why we now have to add two CNAMEs to get Blogger custom domain working instead of the normal one CNAME (ghs.google.com). Fortunately, I stumbled on a post at Google Groups where a Blogger explained why a domain name might still be in a “12” / “404” State.
Right there, I discovered that Blogger has updated their CNAME setup settings for Custom domains which now require that you have two CNAME records entered in your DNS settings for your custom domain to work with your Blogspot blog. The update was released after Blogger restored the custom domain publishing option which was down for some weeks.
Hence, moving forward, you have to follow the steps below to add the second CNAME to your DNS:
- Enter your custom domain into the appropriate field located on the Blogger’s Settings (Publishing) page
- Click the “settings instructions“ link below the field. (It is important that you only click the settings
instructions link after you enter your domain, as the unique record is generated based on the entered URL.) - You’ll be directed to a page which will have your two unique records displayed. Copy the information for use in the next step.
- Depending on your domain register, follow the relevant instructions for creating a new CNAME just as you did for ghs.google.com, but now instead using the unique info from step 3.#
- After updating your CNAME info, head back to Blogger and click Save to finalize your custom domain setup. If Saving does not work, then you’ll have to wait a little while and try again. Saving won’t be possible until the DNS changes have fully updated, and some registrars may take up to an hour or more before that happens.
That’s all.
If you have contribution or questions to ask, feel free to use the comment form below.
You can also contact me if you prefer I set it up for you.
Cheers!
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