How To Fix The Google Sites Naked URL Problem

An extremely niche post.

Aug 08, 2024

My recent posts have been “AI” focused. I recently experienced a tech issue so vexing that once solved, I had to document it so that others could avoid the frustration I endured.

Author’s Note: If you use a screen reader, you may not like this post. I used URLs instead of hyperlinked anchor text to tell the story.

The Google Sites Naked URL Problem And Fix

Here is my tale of woe and ultimate triumph.

Why This Was An Issue For Me

In August 2014, I started a WordPress blog and purchased tommullaney.com as its URL. WordPress has declined over the years. Katie Fielding suggested I move my writing to Substack. In April 2024, I started this Substack.

As a result, Tommullaney.com now pointed to a WordPress blog I no longer used. I wanted it to point to a site highlighting my education resources and consulting services. I was not happy with the WordPress options for building such a site.

It is not the most advanced website builder, but I have long enjoyed using Google Sites to create digital escape rooms. I decided to build a new site in Google Sites and use tommullaney.com as its address.

I tried transferring the domain from WordPress to Squarespace, but that proved impossible. So, I decided to keep the domain in WordPress and direct the URL to the Google Site.

Add A Custom Domain To A Google Site

Start by clicking the settings gear, Custom domains, and Start setup in the Google Sites editor.

Click the settings gear, then Custom domains, then Start setup. — Click the settings gear to add a custom domain to a Google Site.

This video by Carol Brightbill is the best explainer I found for adding a custom domain to a Google Site.

The Naked URL Problem

Your domain with “www.” at the start will work. So www.tommullaney.com worked. But this is not 1995. Anyone interested in seeing the site will type “tommullaney.com.” That brought up this when I went through the same process with my digital escape rooms site:

The URL does not work without typing "www." at the start.

Tommullaney.com is the naked URL. That means the URL without “www.” at the beginning. It is apparently a known issue that naked URLs do not work with Google Sites created with personal Google accounts. I do not know why this issue exists.

Attempted Fixes

I looked all over the internet for a fix. It led me to add DNS records to my WordPress domain. A DNS record redirects the URL to the site. I tried numerous fixes I found online. That led to my WordPress domain DNS records looking like this:

The domain has nine DNS records including three CNAME records, Four AAAA records, and two A records. — These are more DNS records than a domain should have.

Nothing worked. Finally, I came across Perjury's Google Sites Guide. It mentioned that redirect.pizza allows users to redirect five URLs for free. That did the trick. The naked URL worked shortly after.

Redirect.pizza works by generating a DNS record to add. It also tells you which DNS records you need to delete.

Go to the site to start creating a URL redirect.

The "Create redirect" interface on the Redirect Pizza website. — Enter the source URL (the naked URL) and the destination URL (the URL that starts with www.).

Add the DNS record redirect.pizza generates to the domain records in WordPress, Squarespace, etc.

Redirect Pizza generates a new DNS record. — Add the Redirect Pizza DNS record to your domain records.

Redirect.pizza shows that the redirect worked. You also receive a confirmation email.

Redirect Pizza says, "Your redirect is now active!" — Once you see this screen, you have solved the problem.

Redirect.pizza has been a godsend.1 For Substack users, adding a custom domain is easy and works fast. That’s why this site’s URL is now CriticalInkling.com.

Can I use my root domain without "www" or another subdomain on Substack? - Substack Help Center.

Continue The Conversation

Thank you for reading. Does your school or conference need a tech-forward educator who can ignite teachers’ creativity with technology? Check out my professional development offerings, reach out on Twitter, or email mistermullaney@gmail.com.

Blog Post Image: The blog post image is World wide web connection concept by jamesteohArt on Canva.

AI Disclosure:

I wrote this post without the use of any generative AI. That means:

I developed the idea for the post without using generative AI.
I wrote an outline for this post without the assistance of generative AI.
I wrote the post using the outline without the use of generative AI.
I edited this post without the assistance of any generative AI. I used Grammarly to assist in editing the post. I have Grammarly GO turned off.
There are no generative AI-generated images in this post.

This is not an advertisement for Redirect.pizza. I have not communicated with the company behind them, Enflow. The company is based in the Netherlands and seems to have no social media besides a LinkedIn page.