Connecting Your Domain to Squarespace

Squarespace is a popular website builder, and Hover's Connect tool makes it simple to point your domain at a Squarespace site without digging into technical DNS settings yourself. This article walks you through connecting your domain on both the Squarespace side and the Hover side, and how to confirm everything is working.

How Connect Fits Into Setting Up Your Site

To make your domain show your Squarespace site, two things need to happen: Squarespace needs to know your domain belongs to it, and your domain needs to point to Squarespace's servers. That second part normally means adding DNS records by hand — DNS (short for Domain Name System) is the internet's address book, telling the internet which server should answer for your domain. Hover's Connect tool fills in that address-book entry for you once you give it the verification value Squarespace provides.

Before you begin

• An active Hover domain — the domain you want to point at your Squarespace site.
• A Squarespace account and site — you'll need an existing Squarespace site to connect your domain to.
• A few minutes on both platforms — you'll switch between your Squarespace account and your Hover control panel during setup.

Note: After you complete the steps in both Squarespace and Hover, it can take up to 24 hours for Squarespace to verify the new DNS entries.

Step 1: Add Your Domain in Squarespace

1. Sign in to your Squarespace account.
2. Follow Squarespace's support guide for connecting a domain to add your domain there.
3. When Squarespace asks you to verify the domain, it provides a CNAME value (a type of DNS record that points one address to another). Copy this verification value — you'll need it in the next step.

Step 2: Enter the Verification Value in Hover

1. In your Hover control panel, open the Connect section and click the Squarespace icon.
2. Paste the verification value you copied from Squarespace into the Verify Value field.
3. Click Connect.

Once this step is complete, your domain is connected to your Squarespace website. You can see the new DNS entries Connect added automatically in your domain's DNS section.

Step 3: Verify the Connection in Squarespace

Note: Squarespace can take up to 24 hours to verify the new DNS entries after you complete the steps above.

1. In Squarespace, go to DNS Settings.
2. Click Refresh to manually check whether Squarespace has picked up the new DNS entries.

Next steps

• Troubleshoot a connection issue — see Troubleshooting Domain Connect Issues if Squarespace still shows your domain as unverified after 24 hours.
• Learn more about the Connect tool — see Connecting Your Domain to a Host Using Connect for an overview of how Connect works with other hosting providers.

Questions? Contact Hover Support.