Custom Domain

Setting up your custom domain is simple and easy (needs a paid plan). You can publish your Quest pages to your custom domain and go live instantly. All custom domains in Quest get SSL built-in for no additional cost (a potential $80/year saving). So you can rest assured that your site will be secure and will be viewed positively by Google search engine. Custom domains also get Google Analytics integration, so you can learn about your audience and measure your site engagement.

Follow these steps to get your custom domain up and running:

1. Purchase your domain (if you haven't already done)

You can buy your domain from any domain name provider. We prefer Google Domains for its ease of use and reliable pricing but you can also use GoDaddy, Dreamhost, BlueHost, HostGator, etc. There is no shortage of ways to buy a domain but all will work with Quest just fine and we’ll show you how below.

1. Add your site in Quest

To set up your own personal domain, go to the “Sites” tab and then click on “Add a Site”.

Next you’ll want to give your site a name and then enter the domain name that you’ve purchased and want to use. Press Save when ready.

1. Site activation

Next, the Site Activation details will appear. These are the details you’ll want to use to set up a www CNAME on your domain provider’s side.

Login to your domain name provider (Google Domains, GoDaddy, etc.). For most domain providers, navigate to a section called “Manage Domain” or simply “Manage”. Or you may also simply click on your domain name from the list in your account. Then go to a section called “Manage DNS records” or something similar. Create a new CNAME record or update an existing record with the values from your Quest account - similar to the screenshot above.

When you have saved the details on your domain provider’s side, you can verify if your domain has been activated in Quest by pressing the “Verify” button in your Quest site page.. Your domain provider may say it can take 24-48 hours for this change to take effect. It generally takes about 1 hour, sometimes less. Once your site is verified, SSL will automatically begin to process and should take no longer than a minute or two.

You will see the site status updated on the top right corner of the page as shown below.

As a final test, just type your domain url into any browser and test to see when the change takes effect. Each domain provider’s setup is similar but can have slightly different wording for fields. For more info, see below.

1. “Naked” domain redirect

For “naked” domains ( when a user doesn’t type “www”), you may need to enable a redirect on your domain provider’s side. The process for this is similar at a high level across different domain name providers, but some specific details or terminology might vary.

Here’s video that describes it for GoDaddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_qZEYxdV-k&t=1s

Note: Some domain name providers use the term “Point To” instead of “Destination” as we refer to it in Quest. They are interchangeable.

Also Note: Some domains will automatically append your original domain name to the end of the domain name when you paste your CNAME Destination / Target. An example of this is with Google Domains where you must add a period “.” to the end of the input field in order to stop this. Be sure the domain name is exactly the same as what is copied and pasted from Quest with the only possible exception of a period at the end such as: “ssl-na1.madewithquest.ai.”

Individual Domain Provider CNAME reference links For further help, here’s some references from some top domain providers that might help from where you purchased your domain name.Google Help - Verify your domain