Your Notion Website Custom Domain Guide

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notion-website-custom-domain

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Unlock a professional brand with your Notion website custom domain. This guide provides actionable steps for setup, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Yes, you absolutely can use a Notion website custom domain. This is the secret to turning a simple, shared Notion page into a professional, branded site that people take seriously. You do this by connecting a domain you own to your public Notion page, typically through a third-party service like Sotion, giving your project instant credibility.

Why a Custom Domain is Non-Negotiable

Notion has exploded far beyond its roots as a personal wiki. The user base has gone from around 1 million in 2019 to over 30 million by early 2024. That’s a staggering 2900% increase, highlighting just how central it's become in professional circles, especially in tech and marketing. You can get the full story on this incredible growth over at Notion Elevation.

With this boom, more people than ever are building public-facing sites on Notion. But here's the catch: a standard yourname.notion.site URL, while perfectly functional, just screams "side project." It doesn't have the authority or brand ownership that a custom domain like yourbrand.com delivers right out of the gate.

While Notion's own "Notion Sites" feature now allows for custom domains, it's a paid add-on. Here's a quick look at how the options stack up:

Notion Site Domain Options at a Glance

This table breaks down the domain capabilities you get with Notion's different plans, so you can see where custom domains fit in.

Feature	Free Plan	Paid Plans (Plus, Business, Enterprise)
Default Notion Domain	`yourname.notion.site`	`yourname.notion.site`
Custom Domain Add-On	Not Available	Available (additional cost)
Cost	Free for Notion's default URL	Plan subscription fee + $10/month per site for the custom domain add-on

For many, using a dedicated tool like Sotion can offer more flexibility and features beyond just the domain itself, often making it a more practical choice.

Build Trust and Brand Identity

Your domain is your digital address. A custom domain is a powerful signal of legitimacy and professionalism. When potential customers or clients see a branded URL, they are far more likely to trust your content and see your project as a serious venture. It's the difference between a temporary pop-up shop and a permanent storefront.

A custom domain is also a huge asset for brand recall. It's much easier for someone to remember yourbrand.com than a long, clunky Notion URL. That memorability is a cornerstone of building any kind of lasting online presence.

"I’ve always believed in decentralized content and the importance of owning your own content. Relying entirely on third-party platforms can be risky... That’s why I think it’s so valuable to have your website under your control."

Establish a Foundation for Growth

Beyond just looking professional, a custom domain is a technical must-have for any long-term growth. It gives you a stable foundation for all your search engine optimization (SEO) work. Every backlink you earn and all the domain authority you build will be tied to your domain, not Notion's.

Think of it this way:

Without a custom domain: You're essentially building equity for Notion's platform.

With a custom domain: You're building equity for your own brand.

This distinction is crucial if you have any plans to attract organic traffic or build a real business around your content. Connecting a notion website custom domain isn't just a nice-to-have; it's the first and most important step in that journey.

Getting Your Notion Page Ready for the World

Before you even think about connecting a notion website custom domain, your Notion page itself needs to be ready for its public debut. A bit of prep work now saves a ton of headaches later and makes sure your visitors have a great experience. Think of it like staging a house before an open house—you want everything to be just right.

The most important thing to get right is the structure. Your entire website should live inside one single parent page in Notion. From there, every other page—like your "About" or "Contact" sections—needs to be nested as a sub-page under that main one. This hierarchy is the blueprint tools like Sotion use to build your site's navigation.

Configure Public Access Correctly

For anyone to actually see your site, you have to enable public sharing on that main parent page. Just hit the "Share" button in Notion and flick the "Share to web" toggle on. A common mistake I see is people forgetting to enable "Allow duplicate as template" if they're offering resources for visitors to copy.

One thing you absolutely cannot forget: make sure the "Allow editing" and "Allow comments" options are turned off. If you leave these on by accident, any random visitor could jump in and start messing with your live website content. It's a simple but critical security check.

Design Your Content for the Web

Finally, remember you're not just writing for yourself anymore. You're designing an experience for a web audience. Keep your paragraphs short and easy to scan. Use Notion's built-in headings (H1, H2, H3) to create a logical flow that's friendly for both your readers and search engines.

A few quick tips:

Break up text: Use bullet points, callout blocks, and other formatting to make information easy to digest.

Optimize images: Before you upload images to Notion, run them through a compression tool. This ensures your site loads quickly and doesn't frustrate visitors.

Create clean URLs: Give your sub-pages simple, descriptive names. These often become part of the final URL on your live site, so yoursite.com/about-us looks much better than yoursite.com/Untitled-23a5f.

Once you've got a well-structured and properly shared Notion page, you're all set to tackle the domain connection itself.

Alright, you've got your Notion page polished and public. Now for the exciting part: connecting your notion website custom domain. This is where we swap out that generic notion.site URL for a sharp, professional address like yourbrand.com.

This isn't a native free feature, though. Notion offers it as an add-on for users on paid plans. It'll run you 8 per month if you pay annually. It's a clear sign that more and more pros are seeing the value in branding their Notion-powered sites.

Your DNS Configuration Steps

Once you've opted for the add-on, Notion will hand you a couple of DNS (Domain Name System) records. Don't let the acronym scare you. Think of these records as a simple change-of-address form for your website, telling the internet where to find your new home.

This handy visual breaks down the entire process from start to finish.

As you can see, it’s really just a three-way handshake between your domain registrar, your DNS settings, and Notion itself.

You'll need to pop over to your domain registrar—wherever you bought your domain, like GoDaddy or Namecheap—and find the DNS management area. While the exact clicks differ from one provider to another, this general custom domain setup guidance can give you a good sense of the universal steps involved.

Inside that panel, you'll be adding two record types that Notion gives you:

A Records: These point your main domain (like yourbrand.com) straight to Notion's servers.

A CNAME Record: This handles the www version of your address, making sure that www.yourbrand.com also lands on your Notion site.

Confirming the Connection

After you’ve plugged in those records, the last thing to do is… wait. I know, it's tough. This waiting period is called DNS propagation, and it's simply the time it takes for servers across the globe to get the memo about your new setup. It can be almost instant, but sometimes it can take up to 48 hours.

Be patient during DNS propagation. Hitting refresh a hundred times won't speed it up. It’s a waiting game while the internet’s address book updates itself.

Once propagation is complete, visiting your custom domain will bring up your fantastic Notion website. If you're looking for more advanced setups or want to explore other methods, you might also find our guide on how to add a custom domain for your Notion page using third-party tools like ours helpful.

Optimizing Your New Notion Website for Growth

Getting your Notion website live on a custom domain is a fantastic first step, but that's really just the beginning of the journey. Now the fun part starts: turning that page into a genuine asset that grows with you.

First things first, you need to tell visitors—and search engines—what your site is all about. Inside your Notion site settings, you can set a specific page as your homepage. This is the page that loads when someone types yourbrand.com into their browser. While you're there, upload a custom favicon. It’s a small detail, but that tiny icon in the browser tab makes your site look instantly more professional and polished.

Sharpening Your On-Page SEO

If you want people to find your site through Google, you have to speak its language. This all starts with getting your metadata right, which you can do directly in your site settings.

Site Title: This shows up in browser tabs and is the main headline in search results. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point.

Site Description: This is the little blurb under your title in search results. Think of it as your 2-second elevator pitch to convince someone to click.

Within the Notion pages themselves, how you use headings matters. A lot. Your main page title should always be an H1. Use H2s and H3s to break up the rest of your content into logical sections. This creates a clear outline that helps Google understand what’s important on your page.

Tracking Your Performance and Growth

You can't improve what you don't measure. Integrating Google Analytics is non-negotiable if you're serious about understanding your audience. Just drop your Google Analytics tracking ID into the site settings, and you can start seeing who's visiting, where they're coming from, and what content they care about.

This data is gold. It turns your website from a static page into a dynamic tool you can constantly tweak and improve. For even deeper insights, it's also a good idea to understand the distinctions in Google Search Console's domain vs. URL prefix properties to get a full picture of your site's health.

And if you’re looking to build a community or offer exclusive content, you can take it a step further. Exploring options for https://sotion.so/blog/notion-membership-management lets you create private, members-only areas right within your Notion site.

Troubleshooting Common Connection Issues

So, you've followed all the steps, but your notion website custom domain is still giving you grief. You might be staring at a "site not found" error or wondering why nothing has happened after 48 hours. It’s frustrating, I know, but don't worry—this is a pretty common part of the process, and most of these issues are surprisingly simple to fix.

Nine times out of ten, the culprit is a tiny typo in your DNS records. Before you do anything else, head back to your domain registrar and pull up the records you just added. Carefully compare them, character by character, to the ones Sotion gave you. Even one wrong letter or a misplaced dot can throw the whole thing off.

Common Problems and Quick Checks

If you've triple-checked your DNS records and everything looks perfect, here are a few other things to look into:

Notion Page Sharing: Did you accidentally turn off web sharing for your parent Notion page? It's an easy mistake to make. Just pop into Notion and make sure "Share to web" is still toggled on.

Propagation Delays: DNS changes aren't instant. They can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate across the globe. If it's only been a few hours, the best thing you can do is be patient and give it a bit more time.

SSL Certificate Status: For your site to load securely (with the little padlock icon), it needs an SSL certificate. This usually gets set up automatically once your domain connects, but it can sometimes take a few hours to kick in.

Remember, these troubleshooting steps are your first line of defense. Working through them systematically solves the vast majority of connection problems without needing to contact support. For a refresher on the initial steps, check out this guide on how to set up a custom domain.

Once your site is up and running, another common question is about getting found on Google. If your new Notion website isn't showing up in search results, you'll want to read up on how to fix your website not showing up on Google.

Still have a few questions floating around about setting up a notion website custom domain? Perfect. I've pulled together some of the most common ones I hear to give you some clear, straightforward answers.

Can I Use a Subdomain Instead of a Root Domain?

Yes, absolutely. Using a subdomain like blog.yourbrand.com is a fantastic strategy, and the setup is nearly identical to using a main (or "root") domain.

When you're in your Sotion dashboard, you'll just enter the full subdomain you want to connect. The only small difference is in your DNS settings—you'll create a CNAME record specifically for that subdomain (in this case, blog) and point it to Sotion's servers.

My Take: I often recommend subdomains for things like a blog, a help center, or a client portal. It’s a clean way to organize different parts of your online world under a single, trusted brand without cluttering your main site.

What Happens If My Sotion Subscription Ends?

If you decide to cancel or let your Sotion subscription lapse, the link between your custom domain and your Notion page will be broken. This means visitors won't be able to access your site through your branded URL anymore.

But don't worry—your content is completely safe.

Your original Notion page is untouched and will still be live and accessible through its public notion.site URL. None of your hard work is lost. If you decide to come back, you can simply resubscribe to Sotion and reconnect your domain without missing a beat.

Ready to turn that Notion page into a real, professional website without any of the usual hassle? Join thousands of creators and businesses who use Sotion to get beautiful, fast, and secure sites up and running in minutes.

Get started today and connect your custom domain at Sotion.so.