What This Article Covers
If your website's www subdomain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com) is not working correctly or showing errors, the cause is often related to how the www subdomain is configured in your DNS settings.
This article walks you through how to set up your www subdomain properly in Website Studio.
Why This Happens
When you set up a custom domain in Website Studio, the root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) and the www subdomain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com) need to be configured separately in your DNS. If the www subdomain is not set up correctly, SSL and routing issues can occur.
How to Fix It — Update Your DNS Records
You will need access to your domain registrar or DNS provider (for example, GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, or similar). Follow these steps:
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Log in to your DNS provider and navigate to the DNS management section for your domain.
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Check your existing DNS records for www. Look for a record with the Name (or Host) set to www.
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Add or update a CNAME record with the following values:
- Type: CNAME
- Name / Host: www
- Value / Target / Points to / Alias (these are all the same field, just labelled differently by each DNS provider): the preview URL provided by Website Studio when you connected your custom domain
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Save the record. DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours to propagate globally, though many users see the fix take effect almost immediately.
Where to Find Your Website Studio Preview URL
Your unique preview URL was provided when you connected your custom domain in Website Studio. If you no longer have it, please contact our support team and we will retrieve it for you.
What to Check If the Issue Persists After DNS Update
After updating your DNS records, keep the following in mind:
- Allow time for propagation. Most changes resolve within minutes, but full global propagation can take up to 48 hours.
- Clear your browser cache and try loading the www URL in a private/incognito window to rule out cached content.