🛠️ How I Set Up a Custom Domain on My Blogger Website (Step-by-Step Guide) on Hostinger

Hello and welcome to this article! I’ll be walking you through how I successfully set up a custom domain for my Blogger website. This guide is based on my personal experience, and I’ve broken it down into detailed steps so you can follow along and avoid the common pitfalls I encountered.

🌱 How It All Started

I initially created a blog on Blogger, and like most free blogs, it came with a subdomain.

Everything was running smoothly. My site was live, indexed by Google, and showing up in search results. But after a while, I noticed something strange. Pages that were previously indexed started disappearing from Google Search. That was my wake-up call.

To improve credibility and SEO, I decided to buy a custom domain.

🛒 Step 1: Buying a Domain from Hostinger

I headed over to Hostinger to purchase a domain. Here's what I did:

• ✅ Created an account: Signed up with my email and verified it.
• 🔐 Logged in: Accessed the dashboard.
• 🔍 Searched for a domain: I wanted something affordable, so I chose a .online domain for just $1. While .com, .net, .org are popular, .online worked for my budget and purpose.

⚙️ Step 2: Preparing Blogger for the Custom Domain

Once I had my domain, I switched over to my Blogger dashboard:

1. 🧭 Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to Publishing and click Custom Domain.
3. Type in your new domain in this format: www.yoursite.com
4. Click Save.

At this point, Blogger will throw an error. Don’t panic—this is expected. The error message will include two CNAME records that you need to configure in your domain provider (Hostinger, in my case).

🧩 Step 3: Configuring DNS Records in Hostinger

Now it’s time to connect your domain to Blogger by updating the DNS settings:

🔧 What You’ll Need to Add:

• Two CNAME records provided by Blogger.
• Four A records pointing to Google’s IP addresses.

🪜 Step-by-Step DNS Setup:

1. Log in to your Hostinger account.

2. Go to Domains > Select your domain > DNS Zone Editor.

3. Add the CNAME records:

   • First CNAME:
     • Name: www
     • Target: ghc.google.com
   • Second CNAME:
     • Name: A unique string (provided by Blogger)
     • Target: Another unique string (also from Blogger)

4. Add the A records (pointing to Google’s servers):

• Here are the A records you'll need to point your custom domain to Google’s servers when setting up Blogger through Hostinger:

• 🧭 Required A Records for Blogger

  Host/Name	Type	Value (IPv4 Address)	TTL
  @	A	216.239.32.21	Default or 3600
  @	A	216.239.34.21	Default or 3600
  @	A	216.239.36.21	Default or 3600
  @	A	216.239.38.21	Default or 3600

  
  

  🔧 Notes:

  • Host/Name: Use @ to represent your root domain (e.g.oneiltries.com).
  • TTL: You can leave it at the default value (usually 3600 seconds).
  • These records ensure your domain points to Google’s infrastructure so Blogger can serve your site.

Each A record should have:

• Name: @
• Type: A
• TTL: Leave as default or set to 3600

Take your time here. Follow the instructions carefully and double-check each entry.

⏳ Step 4: Waiting for Propagation

After saving all the DNS records, go back to Blogger and try saving your custom domain again. If everything is correct, Blogger will accept it and start redirecting your blog to the new domain.

⏱️ How Long Does It Take?

• In my case, it took just 15 minutes for the domain to go live.
• However, it can take up to 24 hours for DNS changes to fully propagate.
• Be patient. Keep refreshing your site, but don’t panic if it doesn’t work immediately.

🔄 Step 5: Redirecting Non-WWW to WWW

To make sure your site works whether someone types yourdomain.online or www.yourdomain.online, enable the redirect:

1. Go to Settings in Blogger.
2. Under Publishing, toggle Redirect domain to ON.

This ensures all traffic goes to the correct version of your site.

🧠 Final Thoughts and Tips

• 💡 Why a Custom Domain Matters: It boosts your site’s credibility, improves SEO, and gives you full control over branding.
• 🛡️ Keep Your DNS Records Safe: Don’t delete or modify them unless you know what you’re doing.
• 🔍 Monitor Your Site: Use Google Search Console to track indexing and performance.
• 💬 Need Help? Hostinger has a support page linked in Blogger’s error message. Use it if you get stuck.

🙋‍♂️ Got Questions?

If you’re trying to set up your own domain and run into issues, feel free to drop your questions in the comments or reach out. I’ll be glad to help you out.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this guide helps you set up your domain smoothly—just like I did!