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The instructions confuse me:

IMAGE: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/175588/google_sites.png

When you go to the Google Apps, you need to pay or use some free trial. When I tried free trial, I was unable to change the url.

So it raises the question: "Is it possible to map your url in Google sites free of charge?"

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  • That is documented very clear at the google help pages...
    – serverhorror
    Jun 24, 2009 at 23:19
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    To 'server horror', true.. the documentation to updating your DNS settings is very clean, unfortunately this was about the kind of service being available with the trial version of google apps. The fact that Google Apps Standard is free is 'NOT very well documented' (if you know what I mean).
    – l0c0b0x
    Jun 25, 2009 at 0:43

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The answer is YES!... The edition you were referring to is the Google-Apps trial edition, which is limited. "Google Apps Standard Edition" is free, but unfortunately a bit difficult to find/sign up for if you don't know what to look for (a bit misleading IMO). Business Edition is about $50 a month per user.

These are the steps for changing your URL in Google Apps (Free Edition):

  • Obtain a domain, say: www.yourdomain.com
  • Request a google apps STANDARD (free) account/space space from google: http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new
  • Submit info about you and your domain (in preparation for moving your DNS records pointing towards gooogle's services.
  • In control panel go to "Web Pages"
  • Change URL from http://www.yourdomain.com-a.googlepages.com to www.yourdomain.com
  • Go to your domain registrar and change www record from whatever it's set to> 'ghs.google.com' (this changes DNS www record to point to google)
  • Verify the change in google
  • Now, your www.yourdomain.com works, not need to type the whole address of http://www.yourdomain.com-a.googlepages.com any more (though, this works too)

*find/replace "yourdomain.com" with your own domain :)

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  • Thank you for the link: google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new. How did you find it? I cannot understand why they do not have it on the front page: google.com/a. I was so lost in all of the testing versions. Great thanks again.
    – user10608
    Jun 25, 2009 at 0:28
  • I own a standard account through them, so I knew what to google for ;) I'm glad you found your answer.
    – l0c0b0x
    Jun 25, 2009 at 0:34
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    A small correction, Business Edition is $50 per year per user, not per month.
    – user2874
    Aug 30, 2009 at 16:41
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You should be able to do this very easily by following the steps they have provided.

This series of answers should lead you in the right direction on setting things up with your domain registrar/host

There are plenty of tutorials on other blogs that could also help you with this.

My Breakdown

  1. Login in to Google Apps for your Domain through http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/yourdomain.com

  2. Go to "Domain Settings" > Domain Names

  3. Click "Add a Domain Alias" and follow instructions.

If you want to allow "Google Sites" to publish to your domain or a subdomain, go to the Dashboard and select "Sites" and you should be able to change the URL at which they are accessed once your domain is verified (or possibly before, I'm not sure).

As to the question of whether it is possible to actually use Google Sites with your own domain with a free Google Apps account, I can assure you that it is and my own Google Sites can be found at http://sites.bjtitus.net (although they are all private).

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  • The first point in "My Breakdown" does not work for me. It is rather hard to understand the last paragraph.
    – user10608
    Jun 24, 2009 at 22:23
  • You need to replace "yourdomain.com" at the end with your own domain, assuming that you've already signed up for Google Apps from google.com/a
    – bjtitus
    Jun 24, 2009 at 22:47

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