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Troubleshoot your domain connection

Last updated: August 1, 2023

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After you’ve connected your domain or email sending domain, it can take up to 24 hours for the DNS changes to propagate and reflect in HubSpot. If your domain isn't connecting as expected after 24 hours, follow the steps below to troubleshoot your domain.

Check the status of your records 

Verify that the DNS records have been updated in HubSpot and in your domain host. 

  • In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the main navigation bar.
  • In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Website > Domains & URLs.
    • If your domain has disconnected, click Reconnect
    • If your domain connection is incomplete, click Continue.
  • On the Verify URLs step of your setup, review any errors in your DNS records.
  • If HubSpot cannot connect your domain, a banner will appear above the DNS records table. There are three error types:
    • Typo: the record added to your domain host is different from what's in HubSpot.
    • Missing record: HubSpot is unable to identify the record in your domain host.
    • Conflicting record: there is a conflicting DNS record in your domain host. 
To resolve these errors, ensure that the records in your domain host match what's in HubSpot. 

You should also check the status of your DNS records in your domain host. 

  • Log in to your DNS host.
  • Confirm that the CNAME records match the Host(name) and Values provided by HubSpot during the connection process.
  • If you’ve confirmed that your DNS records have been updated correctly, you can click either Refresh or check them again in the domain setup within HubSpot to confirm your records have been updated and your domain can be connected. 

If this does not work, you can try copying and pasting the provided values again, or review the following common DNS record issues. 

Common DNS issues

If you are unable to connect your domains, here are some common DNS issues that you can check for in your DNS host. 

Duplicated root domain

Some domain hosts will add a root domain to your CNAME records by default. For example, when entering hs1-123456._domainkey.example.com, an additional domain will be added. The records would then propagate as hs1-123456._domainkey.example.com.example.com

You can use external tools to check for a duplicated root domain. For example, you can use Dig to check your email sending domains or Whatsmydns for your site domains. 

If your domain name was duplicated in your CNAME record:

  • Keep the domain manager tool open in your browser.
  • In a new tab or window, log in to your DNS provider and navigate to your DNS Zone File (sometimes appears as Domain Files, Manage DNS).
  • Enter your host(name) values without the domain. This will look different for domains and email sending domains. For example:
    • Domain: you can enter info. rather than info.example.com
    • Email sending domain: you can enter hs1-123456._domainkey rather than hs1-123456._domainkey.example.com.

Records invalidated by domain host 

If your domain name was not duplicated in your CNAME record, but you're seeing a record invalid error in your domain manager, the updated records may have been invalidated by your domain host. 

Your DNS provider may have invalidated your CNAME record because of certain characters, such as an underscore ("_") or a hyphen ("--"). You should contact your provider's support team for further assistance. 

The CNAME records that appears in your HubSpot email sending domain setup strictly adheres to the DKIM protocol and are supported by most major DNS providers.

Use Whatsmydns to troubleshoot site domains

Whatsmydns is a tool used to check DNS records and DNS propagation for your site domains. You can use Whatsmydns to confirm that your DNS records have been correctly updated and are propagating successfully.

  • Navigate to Whatsmydns.net
  • In the top left, enter the domain you’re trying to connect in HubSpot. 
  • Click the dropdown menu and select CNAME.
  • Click Search.
  • If your DNS update was successful, the results should correspond to the values provided in HubSpot. The CNAME records will be formatted as: [your hubID].group{xx}.sites.hubspot.net.

If the Whatsmydns results do not match the value provided in HubSpot, this means that the DNS record may have been incorrectly updated or is not propagating correctly. You can try updating your DNS record again, or reach out to your domain provider to troubleshoot further. 

Use Dig to troubleshoot email sending domains

Dig is a tool used for network troubleshooting and providing information on DNS records for your email sending domains. You can use Dig to confirm whether your DNS records have been correctly updated and are propagating successfully.

  • Navigate to dig web interface.
  • In the Hostnames or IP addresses field, enter the host(name) values provided in HubSpot. The record Type should be already set to CNAME.

  • Click Dig
  • If your DNS update was successful, the results should match to the values provided in HubSpot. The CNAME records in the results will be formatted as:
    • yourdomain-com.hs{xx}a.dkim.hubspotemail.net.
    • yourdomain-com.hs{xx}b.dkim.hubspotemail.net.

If the CNAME records in your Dig results do not match the values provided in HubSpot, this means that the DNS records may have been incorrectly updated or are not propagating correctly. You can try updating your DNS records again, or reach out to your domain provider to troubleshoot further. 

If you're still seeing problems after completing the troubleshooting steps above, you can contact HubSpot Support.

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