Managing your domain in Shopify

Also in this section

• Editing settings and transferring
• Email forwarding
• Renewing Shopify domains
• International domains
• SSL
• Troubleshooting

You manage all your domain settings on the Domains page in your Shopify admin.

Set your primary domain

Your primary domain is the domain name that's displayed in the address bar while customers browse your online store. You assign your primary domain from the Domains page of your Shopify admin.

By default, your primary domain uses the format your-store-name.myshopify.com when you sign up for Shopify. If you want to change the domain that customers use to visit your store, then you can buy a custom domain name through Shopify or from any third-party domain registrar. After you add a custom domain to Shopify, then you can set your custom domain as the primary domain.

You can use your root domain or a subdomain as your primary domain, but you can have only one primary domain for your Shopify store. If you're on the Shopify plan or higher and you want to sell to customers in multiple countries or regions, then you can use international domains to set up regional domains for every country or region where you have a target market.

Before setting a new primary domain, make sure that you complete the following steps:

• buy a domain through Shopify or from a third-party
• in your Shopify admin, add your domain and all of the subdomains you want to use with your store
• set up your root domain
• set up your subdomains.

Note

Before you set your primary domain, make sure that your domains have an OK status. Changes to a domain can take up to 4 hours to come into effect.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Domains.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify app, tap Store.
2. In the Sales channels section, tap Online Store.
3. Tap Domains.

Android

1. From the Shopify app, tap Store.
2. In the Sales channels section, tap Online Store.
3. Tap Domains.

1. In the Primary domain section, click Change primary domain.

2. Select the domain that you want to set as your primary domain.

3. Click Save.

The primary domain that you set is now displayed to customers who visit your online store.

Remove a third-party domain

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Domains.
2. In the Third-party domains section, select the domain that you want to remove.
3. Depending on which plan your account is on, do either of the following:
   • If your account is on the Basic Shopify plan, then click Remove.
   • If your account is on the Shopify Plan or higher, then click Manage > Remove.
4. Click Remove to confirm that you want to remove and disconnect this domain.

If you want to use the domain name again for your Shopify store after you remove it, then you can add it in your Shopify admin.

If you plan to close your store and transfer your domain to a new platform, then be aware that Shopify's HTTP Strict Transfer Security (HSTS) policy remains in effect on your domain for 90 days after you close your store. This policy helps to ensure the safety of information about your business and your customers.

If you transfer your domain to another platform that uses HTTPS, then you don't need to take any additional steps.

If you transfer your domain to a platform that doesn't use HTTPS, then for the next 90 days, an error message is displayed in the browser when anyone attempts to visit your domain. The error message might state that the site is not trusted or that the certificate is not valid. Wait until the 90 day period is over, or consider transferring your domain to a platform that supports HTTPS.

Remove a Shopify-managed domain

If you no longer want a Shopify-managed domain associated with your Shopify store, then contact support to have it removed. After you remove or disconnect a Shopify-managed domain, you can't manage its settings using the Shopify admin.

Your .myshopify.com URL can't be removed or changed, because you use your .myshopify.com URL to log into your store and identify your account when you contact support. If you want to change the domain that customers use to visit your store, then you can set a custom domain as your primary domain.

Redirect a domain

If you have multiple custom domains for your store, then verify that all custom domains associated with your store redirect to your primary domain. If you don't redirect your custom domains to your primary domain, then search engines might index your site as duplicate content, which can affect your discoverability and SEO.

If your account is on the Shopify plan or higher and you have multiple custom domains for your store, then you can either redirect those domains to your primary domain or use them to target a dedicated country or region using international domains.

If you're on the Basic Shopify plan, then you can't use international domains. Make sure that all custom domains redirect to your primary domain.

Caution

If you have any applications that depend on these domains not redirecting to your primary domain, then speak to the app developer before making this change.

Redirect a domain for the Shopify plan or higher

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online store > Domains.
2. Click Manage next to the domain that you want to redirect.
3. Select Redirect to Primary domain.

Redirect a domain for the Basic Shopify plan

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online store > Domains.
2. In the Primary domain section, click Enable redirections.
3. Click Enable redirections again.

Myshopify.com URLs

You can't change your .myshopify.com URL, because you use your .myshopify.com URL to log in to your store and identify your account when you contact Shopify Support. If you want to change the domain that's displayed to customers when they visit your online store, then set a custom domain as your primary domain. After you set a custom domain name, your .myshopify.com URL is still displayed in your address bar when you're logged into your Shopify admin.