Publishing landing page on your own domain is one of the best ways to maintain brand unity and ensure a seamless experience for your customers. Doing this means that the pages you create with Yext will live under the same domain as the rest of your website. For example, if your website domain is companyname.com, your restaurants will all live at restaurants.companyname.com.

In order to publish pages to your own domain, when you enter your desired domain in Yext, Yext will provide you with the Bridge Domain where your page is hosted. Once you obtain that Bridge Domain, you will need to add it to your DNS provider to create a connection so consumers visiting your subdomain will be served Pages that are built by Yext. This type of connection is called a CNAME.

This article will walk you through the process of creating a domain in the Yext platform, retrieving the Bridge Domain for your domain, and make sure that your subdomain is configured correctly with your web provider.

Before we start, below is a list of definitions of terms that will be used a lot throughout this article:

• DNS Provider: A company or service that manages domain name servers. This is the service you use to manage your main website e.g., GoDaddy or Namecheap.
• CNAME (Canonical Name): A CNAME record is typically used to map or point one domain or subdomain to another domain name.
  • For example, in this instance, you are connecting your subdomain (e.g., yoursubdomain.yourdomain) to the Yext-powered page (e.g., yousubdomain.yourdomain.pagescdn.com.) so your DNS provider knows where to find the Yext-powered pages.

 To add a Domain:

1. Click Pages in the navigation bar and click Domains.
2. Click + Add New Domain. A dialog box appears.
3. If applicable, select if you would like to use this domain for Search or not.
4. Select the integration method from the drop-down menu.
5. Click Continue.
6. Type your domain in the text box.

4. Click Continue. The Bridge Domain may appear in the dialog box.
5. Select if you would like to automatically generate a sitemap or not. 
6. If applicable, select if you would like to automatically provision HTTPS for the domain.
7. Click Create Domain.
8. Copy the Bridge Domain to set up a CNAME record in your DNS provider.
   1. If applicable, click Options next to the new Domain you create and click Copy Bridge Domain. See detailed instructions on how to add a CNAME record to different DNS providers below.
      • The Bridge Domain will have the following structure: yoursubdomain.yourdomain.com.pagescdn.com.
      • Note: Be sure to include the actual subdomain you’ve chosen and your domain in place of the example above, followed by the .pagescdn.com. (including the period after .com.). Some DNS providers may handle this automatically; your IT team will know how to configure the record correctly.
      • Additional Notes
        • It can take up to 48 hours for the CNAME to propagate. Your domain’s Status will remain Inactive until your domain is set up correctly with your DNS Provider.
        • Once your CNAME record has fully propagated, your domain’s Status will be marked as Active in the Domains tab.
        • If you’ve waited 24-48 hours after setting up your subdomain with your DNS provider, and the Domain isn’t Active in Yext, reach out to Yext Support.

 

Additional Information on Adding a CNAME record to your DNS Provider

To create a CNAME record (General):

1. Log into your domain registrar and locate the DNS or advanced DNS settings for the domain that you want to create a subdomain for.
2. Create a new CNAME record.
3. Enter your subdomain prefix in the Host field.
4. In the Points to field, enter the Bridge Domain. This is what you copied from the Yext platform.
   

By adding this, you are allowing Yext to publish landing pages to that specific subdomain. For example, adding a CNAME record for the domain “yourcompany.com” with the subdomain “restaurants” will allow you to publish a landing page on restaurants.yourcompany.com. 

It can take up to 48 hours for your DNS provider to set up your subdomain, so make sure you check back on the domains page for an indication that the record is fully propagated.

 

To create a CNAME record (GoDaddy DNS Provider):

For instructions directly from GoDaddy, see GoDaddy’s Add a CNAME record article.

1. Log into your GoDaddy account at godaddy.com.
2. Click on the name of the account and then on My Products or go to this link: https://account.godaddy.com/products/.
3. Click on DNS next to the domain you want to add the subdomain to.
4. Go to the bottom of the Records list and click on Add.
5. Select CNAME for type.
6. In the Host field enter your subdomain prefix you wish to publish your page to.
• For example, if your subdomain is restaurants.mycompany.com, your subdomain prefix is restaurants.
7. In the Points to field, enter the full address of the Yext-owned page.
• The address will have the following structure: yoursubdomain.yourdomain.com.pagescdn.com.
• Note: Do not change the TTL field, this will already be set correctly by default.
8. Click Save.

 

To create a CNAME record (Network Solutions DNS Provider):

For instructions directly from Network Solutions, see Network Solutions’ CNAME Record article.

1. Log into your account at www.networksolutions.com and click Manage Account.
2. Click on the Edit DNS link under the My Domain Names section.
3. Click the Edit Advanced DNS Records link next to the domain you want to use. This will open the DNS Manager Settings page.
4. Scroll down to the section Host Aliases: CNAME Records, click the Edit CNAME Records button.
5. In the 'Alias' field, type the name of your chosen subdomain.  
6. Select the Other Host radio box and type the CNAME record from the Yext platform.
7. Click Continue. This will bring you to a confirmation screen.
8. Confirm your settings and click Save Changes.