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How your site's address works

What a site's address is

A site's address is the web address where visitors reach it. Yours can be the free address your site publishes to, your own domain, or both. This page explains each one, what you will see on screen for each, and what stays the same when you edit a site.

If you are starting from the beginning of setup, connecting a domain is the first of the four steps to a finished site. This page covers what happens after that first step.

The free address, and the domain you add

Every site can publish to a free address, with nothing to set up at your domain host. That makes it possible to publish before a domain is ready. Connecting your own domain can happen at any time, before or after, and until the domain is active the free address keeps serving your site. The site's row says so while that is true.

Your own domain and the free address are two ways to reach the same site. Nothing is lost when you switch between them, and the compliance gate applies to both in the same way.

Your site's free address stays on your own brand

Every site publishes to the free address of the brand you signed up with. That includes accounts created before that address was available. The address your visitors see therefore belongs to the same brand as your account, not to a different one.

The bare domain and the www address both reach your site

A domain can be typed two ways: the bare domain, such as example.com, and the same name with www in front. When you connect a domain, the other form of it is connected to your account at the same time. Point both at us, and visitors reach your site whichever address they type.

1. Connect your domain to your account. The other form, with or without www, is connected with it.
2. At your domain host, point both forms at us.
3. Check the domain's label on screen to see whether your site is on it.

Every domain host has its own screens. Tell your agent who your domain is registered with, and it walks you through connecting it at that host, step by step, in that host's own screens. For a written walkthrough, see the help article on connecting your domain, and the overview of custom domains.

Domain labels say whether a site is actually on them

A connected domain and a domain that serves a site are not the same thing. A domain is described as serving your site only when a published site is behind it. A domain that is connected but has no published site on it says exactly that.

The same care shows up where you pick a site. The picker at the top of every screen lists your sites and your domains under their own headings, each with its own count, so a domain is never mistaken for another site. When two of your sites share a name, every list that offers them also shows the page count, whether each is a draft or published, its address and when it was built.

Your site keeps its own address when you edit it

When you edit a published site, it stays at the address it went live on. That includes the links inside its pages. You can change wording and details without the site moving to a different address.

Your agent can read the sites you publish with us too, whether they are on our address or on your own domain. When you ask it to look at one of your published sites, it reads the live pages directly.

The mailing address on your site's form emails

When a visitor fills out a form on your site, they get an automatic reply. In Settings you can give each of your sites its own mailing address, and a P.O. Box works. It appears at the bottom of that automatic reply and of any follow-up emails. It is never shown on your other sites or on anyone else's.

A mailing address matters for follow-up emails because they need an address by law. For that reason, follow-up emails stay off for a site that does not have one. You can read more about them on the page about follow-up emails.

If you would rather use one address for everything, you can save it once and mark it as your default. Our page on changing one thing on every site at once shows how.

If a site has no mailing address when you reach the step before publishing, that step says so and links to where you add one. It is a reminder only, and you can still publish.

The spam check on your site's contact form also works the same way on every address your site is published on, including your own domain. There is nothing to set up.

What it does not do

• A connected domain is not described as serving your site unless a published site is behind it.
• Follow-up emails stay off for a site without a mailing address.
• The step before publishing reminds you about a missing mailing address, but it does not stop you from publishing.
• A site's mailing address is never shown on your other sites or anyone else's.

For the complete list of what the platform covers, see the platform overview.

Updated October 2026