Domains FAQ

1. What’s the difference between a domain and a website?

While domains and websites are closely related, they aren't the same. A website is a collection of content hosted on a server. A domain is a user-friendly address your browser uses to identify the location of a website. 

Let’s put it another way: think of your website as a house, with the domain being the street address. Your house contains all of your belongings in the same way your website contains all of your content. Domains are like a home address because they provide visitors with the unique address that takes them directly to your home or website.

Website and domain hosting are separate subscriptions that are billed separately. With Squarespace, you can get a free year of domain hosting when you register for an annual website subscription. 

 

2. What’s the difference between transferring a domain to my Squarespace site and connecting it? 

Transferring a domain to your site makes Squarespace your domain host. This means you can manage your domain billing, settings and registration from your Squarespace account.

You can connect a domain to your Squarespace site if you’re unable to transfer it. The main difference from transferring is that a connected domain uses the current domain provider as the host.  Connecting, or pointing, a domain to your Squarespace site involves updating your domain’s DNS settings from your provider's end.

Both setup processes lead to the same result. When you successfully add a domain to your site using either transferring or connecting, the domain directs users to your Squarespace site. 

 

3. Why do you recommend transferring my domain to Squarespace instead of connecting it?

If possible, transferring your domain to your Squarespace site is the recommended option over connecting a domain. Here are a few reasons why: 

• Ease of use 

If you already have a Squarespace site, you can manage your domain’s DNS and billing settings from your Squarespace site. You won’t need to deal with two different providers. 

• Scope of support 

Sometimes things can go wrong and questions can arise when managing your domain. If your domain is connected to your site, our Customer Support team can’t access your account with a third-party domain provider to provide more help. If Squarespace is your domain host, we can offer more insight and hands-on support to help you find solutions.  

• Features 

All Squarespace domains include free Whois privacy and SSL certificates to protect your information and to keep your site marked as secure. 

While transferring your domain to Squarespace is the recommended domain setup option, the most important factor in your decision depends on what works best for you. Whether you decide to connect or transfer your domain, your visitors won’t experience any differences when viewing your site. 

 

4. How can I choose a good domain name? 

For many users, their domain name is their name or the name of their business. For other users, it’s not as straightforward. 

Because a domain name is your first impression on the internet, we recommend choosing a name that's positive and memorable. Domains can be anywhere from a few characters to several words. Shorter domain names are more effective with audiences because their short length makes them easier for people to remember. Additionally, fewer characters means fewer possible misspellings. 

Consider the purpose of your site 

Before you choose a domain name, consider what the purpose of your site is and what your users will do when visiting your site. Are you selling products or services?  Are you hosting a blog? 

Understanding your site’s purpose and audience will help you ‌develop a list of keywords to incorporate into your site content. These keywords are a tool you can use to find a domain name that's effective and relevant to your site. For example, if you’re choosing a domain name for a yoga studio, you can incorporate the word “yoga” into your domain  because “yoga” is an important keyword throughout your site content that resonates with your audience and your site’s purpose. 

Distinguish yourself from your competitors 

It’s important to have a unique domain name to distinguish yourself from your competitors, especially if there are other websites that are similar to yours. For example, if you live in New York City and own a hardware store called Smith’s Hardware, smithshardwarenyc.com could stand out more to your local customers than  smithshardware.com. Adding a unique identifier like “nyc” to your domain distinguishes your site from the competing Smith’s Hardware sites. 

 

5. How can I set up a custom email address for my domain?? 

Once your domain is registered, you can create a custom email address for it, like youremail@yourdomain.com. Here are two ways to set this up in Squarespace:

• Email forwarding

You can set up email forwarding for Squarespace-managed domains. With email forwarding, you create aliases for your email address. Then, emails sent to those aliases will be forwarded to another email address of your choice. 

Think of an alias as a nickname. For example, if your email is youremail@gmail.com, you can set up the alias youremail@yourdomain.com. All emails sent to youremail@yourdomain.com will forward to youremail@gmail.com. 

• Google Workspace 

You can add Google Workspace to a Squarespace domain or third-party domain. Similar to email forwarding, you can use a custom domain email address with Google Workspace. The difference with Google Workspace is you create a new email with its own inbox instead of creating a nickname for an existing email

This is a good option for businesses wanting a professional email address with its own inbox. Keep in mind, Google Workspace is a separate billing subscription from your domain and website. 

 

6. I’m a Google Domains customer. Do I have to do anything? 

In 2023, Squarespace entered into an agreement to become the new home for Google Domains. Domains are being moved to Squarespace in phases. When your domain transitions from Google to Squarespace, you’ll become a Squarespace customer and manage your domain through an account with us. 

If you're a Google Domains customer, we’ll let you know when you need to take action. When your domain moves to Squarespace, you’ll receive an email to the email address associated with your Google Domains account. If you already have a Squarespace account, you’ll just need to log into it. If you don’t have a Squarespace account yet, one will be created for you automatically. 

Visit About the Google Domains migration to Squarespace to learn more about the migration, how to check the status of your domain and where to go for support.

Can I connect a new Squarespace domain to an existing third party webpage here? I'm looking to get rid of my existing url and create new branding, so would like to keep the webpage/content but get a domain from here. 

And some Price indicaties anywhere?