Connect a GoDaddy domain to your Artery portfolio

When you connect your own domain, your portfolio site opens at an address like yourname.com instead of yourname.getartery.com. The free getartery.com address keeps working too.

Before you start

• Custom domains are part of the Pro plan. Each portfolio can have one custom domain.
• You need to be able to sign in to the GoDaddy account that holds the domain.
• Decide which address you want: the domain itself (yourname.com) or a subdomain (art.yourname.com). When you connect the domain itself, www.yourname.com is set up too and sends visitors to yourname.com.

1. Add the domain in Artery

1. In your Artery dashboard, open Settings, then the Portfolio tab.
2. Open Custom domain and select Add domain.
3. Type your domain, for example yourname.com, and select Add domain.

Artery now shows the DNS records to add, with a status of Waiting for DNS. Keep this page open: each name and value has a copy button.

For yourname.com, you get three records:

Type	Name	Value
A	@	The IP address Artery shows
CNAME	www	domains.getartery.com
TXT	_artery-verify	Your verification code, which starts with artery-verify-

For a subdomain such as art.yourname.com, you get two: a CNAME named art with the value domains.getartery.com, and a TXT named _artery-verify.art with your verification code. Use the names Artery shows you.

Always copy the IP address and the code from Artery: the code is unique to your portfolio and your domain.

2. Open the DNS records in GoDaddy

1. Sign in to GoDaddy and go to your Domain Portfolio.
2. Select your domain to open its Domain Settings page.
3. Select DNS to see the domain’s DNS records.

If GoDaddy says the domain uses nameservers somewhere else, your DNS is not managed at GoDaddy. Add the records at the service those nameservers belong to instead (for example Cloudflare).

3. Clear the records that are in the way

A name can only point to one place, so check the records that are already there before you add new ones:

• The @ A record. A GoDaddy domain usually already has an A record named @, often with the value Parked. Select Edit next to it and change its value to the IP address from Artery, instead of adding a second one. Delete any other A record named @.
• The www CNAME. GoDaddy usually creates a CNAME named www with the value @. Select Edit and change the value to domains.getartery.com. GoDaddy allows only one record per CNAME name, so editing is the way to do it.
• AAAA records named @ or www (IPv6 addresses): delete them. A second address sends some visitors somewhere else and can stop the secure certificate for your domain from being issued.
• Forwarding. If you set up forwarding for this domain at GoDaddy, remove it first: forwarding needs its own records on @ and www.

Leave your email records alone: MX records and the TXT records your email provider gave you are not affected.

4. Add the records

For each record that is not there yet, select Add New Record, choose the Type, then fill in:

• Name: the name from Artery, without your domain. GoDaddy adds the domain itself. So type _artery-verify, not _artery-verify.yourname.com.
• Value: the value from Artery.
• TTL: the default (1 hour) is fine.

Select Save (or Save All Records when you add several at once). If your domain has Domain Protection, GoDaddy asks for a verification code before it saves.

When you are done, the domain has:

• an A record, Name @, Value the IP address from Artery
• a CNAME record, Name www, Value domains.getartery.com
• a TXT record, Name _artery-verify, Value your code from Artery

5. Wait for the check

Artery checks your domain every five minutes, so you can close the page. GoDaddy says most DNS changes take effect within an hour, and some take up to 48 hours. To check right away, open Settings, Portfolio, Custom domain and select Check again.

Each record shows Live once it is found. When the domain is live, Artery sets up the secure (https) certificate for it on its own; there is nothing to buy or install.

If www works before the @ record does, your site opens on www.yourname.com first, and moves to yourname.com as soon as the @ record points to Artery.

If something does not work

• Still Waiting for DNS after a few hours. Compare each record in GoDaddy with Artery, character by character. The most common mistakes are a second A record on @ (often the old Parked one), the domain typed into the Name field, or a missing record.
• Failed. Artery found your verification code before and cannot find it now. Check that the TXT record named _artery-verify is still there with the code Artery shows, then select Check again.
• “This domain is connected to another portfolio”. Add the TXT record the message names, wait a few minutes, then add the domain again in Artery. Whoever controls the domain’s DNS decides which portfolio uses it.
• GoDaddy’s screens look different. GoDaddy changes its pages from time to time. The names of things may move, but the records stay the same: whatever the screen calls it, you need an A record, a CNAME record and a TXT record with the names and values Artery shows. GoDaddy’s own guides are Add an A record, Add a CNAME record and Add a TXT record.

Still stuck? Contact us with your domain name and we will look at it.