> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.guino.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom domain

> Serve your Guino site from a domain you own. Optional.

<Note>
  This page is the one part of Guino that involves DNS. It is entirely optional. Guino
  hosts your site on a guino.app address and that works fully without any of this.
</Note>

Connecting a domain you own means your pages are served from `yourdomain.com` instead of
a guino.app address.

## Two things have to be true

Guino reports these separately, because they fail separately and a domain that is half
connected looks alarming if you do not know which half.

<Steps>
  <Step title="DNS, proving you control the name" icon="server">
    You add a record at your domain registrar. Guino performs a real lookup to confirm
    it is there.

    Guino checks for a **TXT record** specifically. An address record alone would only
    prove the name points somewhere, not that you are the person who controls it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Certificate, so the site loads securely" icon="lock">
    Your domain also has to be attached to Guino's hosting so a certificate can be
    issued. Depending on setup this may be a manual step by the Guino team, and Guino
    will say so rather than marking your domain live and leaving you at a browser
    security warning.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Your domain is only live once both are done.

## What changes once it is verified

* Your pages are served from your domain.
* Search engines are told your domain is the canonical home of each page, so the
  guino.app copies are consolidated into it rather than competing with it.
* Your site gets its own robots file and sitemap at your domain root, listing your pages
  only.
* Internal links shorten. A page that was at
  `guino.app/creators/yourname/about` is at `yourdomain.com/about`.

Old guino.app addresses keep working.

## Search Console

Once you are on your own domain you can verify it in Google Search Console using a DNS
TXT record, the same way you verified it with Guino. You own the domain, so you can do
this yourself without Guino being involved.

<Warning>
  While you are on a guino.app address you cannot verify the property in Search Console,
  because you do not own guino.app. This is a genuine limitation of not having your own
  domain. It is not something Guino can grant you.
</Warning>

## Should you bother

Get a domain if you want the traffic and the brand to be an asset you keep regardless of
what platform you use later. Skip it if you want to publish and move on. Neither answer
is wrong, and you can add a domain later without republishing everything by hand.