Have a new domain purchased from Google that is managed by Godaddy and want to ‘Forward’ or redirect it to a new domain?
If you follow the normal Godaddy instructions for forwarding a domain, you will likely not get the redirection to work at all. There is a special process that you have to follow, and if you need support, a special team in Godaddy to field your questions (general domain support is not trained for these situations).
I recently worked on a project to with one of my customers. They had a significant amount of blog content on an old Google Blogspot account (ex somedomain.blogspot.com). They wanted to consolidate this content to a central website powered by WordPress as a CMS. They also happened to be bringing in another blog from a different locations, so there was a merger going on, but that’s not relevant for this issue.
We needed google to initially convert the blogspot domain to a domain we purchased through them. In this case Google handles all the redirects of those deep blogspot article links (in this case more than a thousand articles!). This is not something a persona can do manually either (not possible).
After Google had everything redirected from somedomain.blogspot.com to BrandNewDomain.com, we then wanted to do 301 redirects from BrandNewDomain.com to ConsolidatedDomain.com/blog/ .
If you follow the Godaddy process, you simply login and type in a redirect URL.
But that will fail! 🙁
Among other things, you have to delete all of the Google default information from the initial creation of BrandNewDomain.com purchased from Google.
Then you do your redirect and if you run into problems you have to call the right department in Godaddy.
Here’s the information that Godaddy sent me to help other people avoid the 4 tech support calls I made and 60 minutes of time spent on the phone working with Godaddy to get this right!
Support Staff Response
Dear Brett,
Thank you for contacting Online Support. Here is the information we discussed over the phone.
The direct line to Go Daddy/Google Domain support is 480-366-3700.
The email is [email protected].
Please keep in mind that we are not Google. We can only provide support for the settings within the DNS control panel. This does include setting up forwarding however.
To setup domain name forwarding you must first log into your account at the Login Page.
(To obtain your login information for your Google domain and update the DNS settings, use the directions below)
1. Go to http://www.google.com/a and click on ‘Returning user, sign in here’ on the top right.
2. Enter your domain and select "Manage this Domain" from the drop down and click ‘Go.’
3. Now you will need to login to your Google account utilizing a username and password you previously created specifically for Google Apps for your domain. If you do not know this information, click ‘Forgot your administrator username or password?’
4. Once logged in, select ‘Domain Names’ from the blue box that lists your domain.
5. Click on "Advanced DNS Settings".
6. You will now see listed your GoDaddy Google Sign-In Name, Password, and PIN.
7. Select "Sign in to DNS Console" in order to manage your DNS settings.
8. Now enter your Google Sign-In Name and Password listed on the previous screen.
9. You should now be in the Domain Control Center. To manage a domain place a check to the left and choose the option you want from the menu bar above [Organize, Locking, Contact, or Nameservers].
Once logged in, you need to setup domain forwarding. Domain name forwarding may be setup by through a few simple steps.
• Check the box next to the domain(s) you wish to setup forwarding for.
• Click the ‘Forward’ button in the gray menu above.
• If you have selected multiple domains click the ‘Click here to Enable Fields’ link under the warning.
• Enter the full URL that you would like your domain to forward to. Example: (http://www.anotherdomain.com)
• Click on ‘OK’ when complete.
• Allow 48 hours for the forwarding to take place.
To add Masking, follow these steps:
• Check the box next to the domain(s) you wish to modify.
• Click the Forward Domains button above your list of domains.
• Click the Masking tab that is next to the Forwarding tab.
• Check the box next to Mask Domain.
• Modify the title that you would like to appear in browsers.
• You are also able to modify the description as well as the keywords. (Meta-tags)
• Click Ok when you are finished.
Next, you will need to update the IP address for the domain name. Here is how you modify the IP address.
• Click the link for your domain you wish to modify the IP address for.
• Click the ‘Total DNS Control and MX Records’ link on the domain details screen.
• You will need only 1 A (host) record. Delete the extra records by clicking on the "X" to the right of the record.
• Now Edit the remaining A (host) record by clicking the "pencil" button to the right of the record.
• Put in the IP address (64.202.189.170) into the "Points to IP Address:"
• Click on ‘OK’ when complete.
• Allow 48 hours for the forwarding to take place.
Lastly, you will need to update the WWW CName for the domain name. Here is how you modify it.
• Click the link for your domain you wish to modify.
• Click the ‘Total DNS Control and MX Records’ link on the domain details screen.
• Click the "Pencil" next to the WWW under the CName Records.
• Change the "Point to Host Name" to say @.
• Click on ‘OK’ when complete.
• Allow 48 hours for the forwarding to take place.
Please let us know if you have any further questions, comments, or concerns by replying to this email. Our service departments and telephone lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to accommodate your needs anytime.
Sincerely,
Amber P.
Online Support Representative