Vanity URL on Google Domains in 2026: A Step-By-Step Guide

A vanity URL is one of the simplest yet most powerful branding tools available to any small business owner, entrepreneur, or independent professional. Instead of sharing a long, forgettable web address like yourname.companyplatform.com/pages/services/contact-form-2024, you share something clean, memorable, and professional — like YourName.com or YourBrand.ca. It is the digital equivalent of a personalised licence plate, except it actually drives business results.

This guide walks you through everything you need to know about setting up a vanity URL using what was formerly Google Domains — now managed by Squarespace Domains — including the domain registration process, DNS configuration, URL forwarding, SSL certificates, and best practices for tracking your vanity URL's performance with Google Analytics.

Important Update: Google Domains Has Moved to Squarespace

Before we dive in, there is a critical development you need to know about. In September 2023, Google announced the sale of its Google Domains registrar business to Squarespace. By July 2024, all approximately 10 million domains previously managed through Google Domains had been migrated to Squarespace Domains.

If you previously managed a domain through Google Domains, your domain is now under your Squarespace account. If you never had a Squarespace account, one was automatically created for you using the email address associated with your Google Domains account. Your DNS settings, forwarding rules, and domain configurations were transferred as part of the migration.

The good news: the core concepts — registering a domain, configuring DNS records, setting up URL forwarding, and managing your vanity URL — remain fundamentally the same. The interface has changed, but the principles this guide covers are universal regardless of which registrar you use.