Connect your GoDaddy domain to Kartra and create branded links for a professional look.

A custom domain (like www.yourdomain.com) makes your online presence professional. When you connect your domain to Kartra, you can use branded links and show your visitors a consistent brand. In this guide, you will learn how to set up your GoDaddy domain so that it works well with Kartra.

To do this, you’ll follow these four steps:

  1. Set up domain forwarding 
    • Only for www. domains. Skip this step if you’re connecting a subdomain—e.g. subdomain.yourdomain.com
  2. Create a CNAME record in GoDaddy
  3. Link your domain to Kartra (may take up to 24 hours to process)
  4. Customize your URLs in Kartra

Before you begin...

Review these guides:

They’ll give you helpful context and make the steps ahead much easier to follow—plus, they’ll help you avoid common setup issues.

Key Details:

  • Setup order matters: If you’re integrating your main domain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com), configure the forwarding rule first, then add the CNAME record. Setting up forwarding first is critical for a GoDaddy domain connection.
  • Conflicting records:
    • Forwarding Rule: If a forwarding rule already exists, delete it before adding a new one for the integration.
    • CNAME: GoDaddy automatically sets a CNAME that points "www" to "@". You’ll need to remove this before adding the CNAME pointing to your Kartra account.

Step 1: Set up forwarding

Domain forwarding sends visitors from your primary address to the secure www version of your site. This helps avoid confusion if users type your domain in different ways. Skip this step if you are integrating a subdomain. 

  1. Access your GoDaddy account.
  2. Select the domain you want to use with Kartra, then go to DNS > Forwarding.
  3. Click Add under Domain.
    • In Forward to, select https:// and enter www.yourdomain.com (replace www.yourdomain.com with your actual domain)
    • Forward Type: Choose Permanent (301)
    • Settings: Select Forward only and save your changes.

Domain forwarding feature in GoDaddy with example of forwarding settings needed for Kartra integration.

Keep in mind!

Visitors who type www.yourdomain.com may not be automatically redirected to the secure version (https://www.yourdomain.com). This happens because of how GoDaddy manages domain settings and is a known limitation on their side.

Not to worry—most people don’t type “www.” before a domain name these days.

Step 2: Add the CNAME record

A CNAME record tells browsers where to find your site. This step ensures that when someone visits your branded URL, they’re taken directly to your Kartra-hosted content.

For the same domain, go to DNS > DNS Records.

Important:

GoDaddy may create a default CNAME that points "www" to "@". You need to remove that record before adding your new CNAME. This change helps the system correctly find your Kartra content.

Add New Record with the following details, then Save:

CNAME creation screen in GoDaddy with example settings for Kartra domain integration.

Official GoDaddy Setup Guides

After completing steps 1 and 2 at GoDaddy, go back to Kartra for steps 3 and 4. 

Step 3: Link your domain to Kartra

To do this:

  1. Go to Settings > Domains and click + Custom domain.
  2. Choose if you’re adding Only the main domain (www.) or Use a sub-domain.
    • Pro tip: If you already have a published site you want to keep associated with your main domain, a subdomain would better suit your needs.
  3. Insert the domain or subdomain and a favicon and click Next.
    Animated walkthrough showing how to start adding a custom domain in Kartra.
  4. Tick the box to acknowledge Yes, I have completed the steps above to link my custom domain to Kartra in my domain service provider’s account and click Next in upper right.
    Confirmation pop-up asking the user to verify that domain setup steps were completed before proceeding.
  5. Set up your Index (home) and 404 error pages and click Next in the upper right.
    Custom domain settings in Kartra showing index and 404 pages setup.
Important:

Do not input the domain you are connecting to Kartra as the external URL option for the index page. This will create an endless loop. 

It can take up to 24 hours for a domain integration to be connected. You will see a Processing… status next to your domain name until the connection is complete.

Domains page with domain in "Processing" status.

The Connected status shows the domain integration was successful.

Domains page with domain in "Connected" status.

After the domain connects to your Kartra account, you can use it to brand your Kartra asset URLs.

Step 4: Brand your page links in Kartra

Asset links in Kartra must be edited individually. To edit a page link and brand it with your domain:

  1. Go to Pages > All Pages.
  2. Click the link icon button under a published page’s thumbnail.
  3. Choose Get the page link, and click the pencil icon button to edit.
  4. Expand the dropdown, and select your domain.
  5. (Optional) In the next field, you can customize the name of the page as shown in the link (in this example, “opt-in”)
  6. Click the checkmark icon button to save the changes, and Close the link editing wizard.

Now you can access the page using the URL you configured.