Add your custom domain to Webflow

Connecting a custom domain to your Webflow site is the last step before going live. Until you do this, your site only exists at a Webflow subdomain like yoursitename.webflow.io. That subdomain is fine for development and staging, but it's not where you want traffic, and it's not what you want indexed by Google.

The process: buy your domain from a registrar (Namecheap, Porkbun, and Google Domains are common choices), then add DNS records in your registrar's control panel that point the domain to Webflow's servers. Webflow provides these records in Site Settings → Publishing → Custom Domains. Add an A record pointing your root domain to Webflow's IP, and a CNAME record pointing www to proxy-ssl.webflow.com. DNS propagation typically takes 24-48 hours, though it often resolves much faster.

A few things to check after the domain connects: confirm HTTPS is working by visiting your site and checking for the padlock in the browser. Webflow handles SSL certificate provisioning automatically through Let's Encrypt, but it requires DNS to be fully propagated before it can issue the certificate. If you see an SSL error in the first few hours after connecting, it usually resolves on its own within a day.

In Webflow's Site Settings, designate one version of your domain as the primary (typically www). Webflow will 301 redirect the non-primary version to the primary automatically. Also check that your Webflow subdomain (.webflow.io) is not indexed by Google — it should be set to noindex by default in Webflow, but verify this in GSC by searching site:yoursitename.webflow.io to confirm no pages from the staging domain are appearing in search results.

After connecting your domain and confirming everything works, add and verify the property in Google Search Console using the custom domain. Submit your sitemap. Request indexing for your homepage via the URL Inspection tool. These three steps, done right after domain connection, set your site up for indexing from day one.