Manage DNS Records for Square Online Domains
Domain records, such as DNS and MX records, are important for making sure your website and email address are working properly.
DNS Records and Nameservers
DNS records and nameservers are necessary for making sure your domain is connected to your website.
If your website is hosted at Square using Square Online, then the DNS records (which are of a specific type known as ‘A records’) and nameservers are automatically set up for you. You don’t need to go in and edit them.
If you decide to host your website elsewhere, then you’ll likely be given instructions on which records to change. Your new host should provide you with either nameservers (e.g. ‘ns1.example.com’), an IP address for use with A records (e.g. ‘123.45.678.910’), or CNAME records (e.g. ‘ghs.google.com’).
Note: When you first purchase or transfer a domain (regardless of where it’s hosted), a 24–48 hour DNS propagation period must take place before the website will appear live under the domain name. In other words, you must wait until the propagation period is complete so the website appears when the domain is searched in a web browser; otherwise, you’ll receive an error.
DNS records
To manage and make changes to your Square Online domain’s DNS records:
In your Square Online Overview page, go to Website > Domains.
Under the domain you want to work with, select Manage > Manage domain.
Under DNS Records, select Add DNS record to add new ones, or Edit by an existing DNS record to edit or delete it.
Modify your DNS records as necessary and select Save when finished.
If the domain you’re referencing is hosted elsewhere, reach your current domain host with any DNS questions.
Nameservers
To make changes to your Square Online domain’s nameservers:
In your Square Online Overview page, go to Website > Domains.
Under the domain you want to work with, select Manage > Manage domain.
Under Nameservers, select Edit nameserver.
Modify your nameservers as necessary and select Save when finished.
Note: Changing your nameservers will cause your website and any email service connected to your domain to go offline. Your DNS records will need to be reconfigured with your new host. If you want to build a website with another host but continue managing your domain through Square (and avoid interruptions to services), ask your new host for instructions on pointing your A records or CNAME records instead of your nameservers. Any changes to DNS records can take 24–48 hours to fully propagate.
If you ever need to reset your nameservers to default settings for Square, use the following values:
Primary: dns1.register.com
Secondary: dns2.register.com
MX Records
MX records are needed to make sure you receive emails to an email address created from your domain. For example, if your domain is “mybusiness.com”, then you need MX records added to your domain to make sure you receive emails sent to your address of “help@mybusiness.com”.
Learn more about set up your email address with Google Workspace and Square Online for more information on setting up a new email address with Square based on your domain.
To manage or make changes to your Square Online domain’s MX records:
In your Square Online Overview page, go to Website > Domains.
Under the domain you want to work with, select Manage > Manage domain.
Under MX Records, select Add MX records to add new ones, or Edit by an existing MX record to edit or delete it.
Modify your MX records as necessary and select Save when finished.
Note: If you ever need to reset your MX records to default settings for Google Workspace, use these Google Workspace MX record values.
If you purchased your domain name and Google Workspace email from Square for Square Online, then we automatically create the MX records for your Google Workspace email address. You won’t need to do anything further.
If you purchased your domain name elsewhere and are using Google Workspace email, you’ll need to manually create your MX records through your domain registrar. How you proceed depends on your level of expertise with MX records.
Have your domain host set up MX records for you
You can reach your domain host to ask them to update the MX records for you. To start the process, feel free to send them a message like this one:
‘I recently signed up for a service called Google Workspace. It allows me to use Google applications with my domain name. My domain is hosted with you, and I need help in changing the MX records.’
"To use Google Workspace for email, I have to point the MX records for my domain to Google’s mail servers. Please refer to this Google support page to view the MX record values: https://support.google.com/a/answer/174125?hl=en
"Once these MX records are configured correctly, I’ll be able to receive emails at my domain’s Google Workspace email address. Thank you."
Keep in mind that any changes to MX records can take up to 24 hours to fully propagate. If you have any questions about propagation time, you can follow up with your domain host.
Set up MX records yourself
Google provides detailed Google Workspace MX record setup instructions for a variety of domain hosts. Follow along with the guide for your specific host to add your records and your email should be working within 24 hours.
If you’re comfortable setting up the MX records yourself, use these Google Workspace MX record values.