4a. How to set up custom domains? Instructions for subdomains

So you have decided to set up localized subdomains for your existing domain. Great!

We'll be more than happy to guide you through this process. You can follow all steps listed below in one go and notify your Glopal Account Manager once they're done.

STEP 1 - verify the domain

Before Glopal is able to use a given domain to serve localized versions of your store, we need to prove that you (the domain owner) have authorized us to do so.

This is done by adding a specific TXT record to your domain's DNS configuration. You will receive a personalized TXT record from your Glopal Account Manager and it will look like this:

google-site-verification=EXAMPLE_n7f3SQNDVi9f3fpgWnTLMJdMPHY33PEwtX9WP6K3128

You need to log in to your DNS configuration panel and simply add a new TXT record at the root level of your domain. It may look like this:

The @ symbol is simply a placeholder that translates to "current domain at root level" ("bare/naked" form, so without www or any other subdomains. This is exactly what we want to do: add a TXT record at the root level.

TTL (Time To Live) is a configuration setting that tells other DNS servers for how long they should cache this value. It is recommended to set it to 1 hour (3600 seconds). Do not set it to a larger value - if you make a mistake it will be hard to get the corrected value propagated in the DNS system.

Please note you may already have some existing TXT records - do not remove them! Simply add a new record as listed above and leave everything else as-is.

STEP 2 - redirect the subdomains to our servers

Once we have the permission to use your domain, it's time to point the subdomains to our servers so that we can serve localized versions of your store.

To achieve this, you need to configure an alias for your subdomains using a CNAME record.

a) wildcard record - RECOMMENDED

The easiest thing to do is to setup a wildcard record (*.example.com), this way all of the subdomains will be redirected.

In some DNS panels (e.g. BigCommerce) you have to use the full form in the "Host" field (*.example.com instead of just *).

A wildcard record is always overridden by any explicitly configured subdomain, so your existing, already configured subdomains (like www.example.com) will still work.

b) per-country record

If you don't want to use a wildcard record, you still have the option to list all of the subdomains manually, but this will require you to add over 100 CNAME records to cover all countries, so it's not recommended. There is no difference for Glopal, however, so the choice is always yours. In such case, the configuration should look like that:

In some DNS panels (e.g. BigCommerce) you have to use the full form in the "Host" field (de.example.com instead of just de).

Per-country configuration is also the only option in rare cases when your registrar does not support wildcard records.

----

NOTE: If you are using some subdomains already and you want to keep them, you should simply NOT remove the corresponding CNAME records.  For example, you may already have a record like this:

This means that www.example.comis an alias to example.com(@ means "root level domain"). You want to keep it to make sure the www URL still works.

STEP 3 (optional) - redirect also the root domain

If you bought a new domain for which you are configuring custom subdomains, you also have the option to redirect the root domain.

For example, your domestic store URL is example.co.uk. To avoid weird localized URLs (like de.example.co.uk ), you have decided to additionally buy example.comto enable de.example.com, fr.example.com etc. You have already added the TXT and CNAME records as explained in step 1 & step 2. The localized subdomains are set.

Now you can decide what to do with the root-level example.comdomain. You can either set a redirection to your domestic example.co.uk store OR you may decide that you want to serve US localized version of the store at example.com (instead of using us.example.com) The choice is yours.

Should you decide to redirect the root domain, you have to properly configure the A record (for IPv4) and AAAA (for IPv6) records.

Start with removing all of the existing A and AAAA records (make sure you are doing this for your newly bought unused domain). Keep the other existing DNS records (CNAME, TXT, MX, etc...)

Then, point the root domain to our servers by setting the following DNS records:

NOTE: ALL eight records have to be set as shown above (not just one). You can add multiple A and AAAA records for any given domain.

STEP 4 - let us know

Once done, notify your Glopal Account Manager.  It can take up to 24-48 hours for the DNS changes to fully propagate worldwide, but usually it's much quicker. Once we verify the DNS configuration is correct, we will finalize the setup and make your custom URLs live. Congratulations!