Shopify Domains: Everything a Seller Needs to Know

Your Shopify domain is like a visa for your customers to access your products/services and freely move within your online store. Once they know about your domain, they will know exactly where to find you.

In this blog, we have covered A to Z of Shopify Domains to perfectly guide you into building an impactful presence online.

So, buckle up, get your notepads ready, and let’s start! ✈️

Table of Contents  

• What is a Shopify Domain?
• How to Change Domain Name in Shopify
• How to Buy a Shopify Domain?
• How Much Does a Shopify Domain Cost?
• How to Set Primary Domain in Shopify?
• How To Cancel a Shopify Domain?
• Why Use Shopify Managed Domains?
• 5 Expert Tips for Choosing Your Next Shopify Domain
• Frequently Asked Questions on Shopify Domains

What is a Shopify Domain?

A domain refers to a URL or a web address specific to your store that helps your customers find you online easily.

For example, you are reading this blog under the domain name meetanshi.com.

Similarly, a Shopify domain is a web address specific to your Shopify store. By default, when you sign up to Shopify, your store has a URL like yourbrandname.myshopify.com. This default domain comes free with every Shopify plan.

But here, we always recommend to add a custom domain for your Shopify store.

Let’s understand this with a small example.

Suppose you run an online shop for flower delivery called Happy Flowers. So when you sign up to Shopify to create your store

1. Your default URL will be something like: happyflowers.myshopify.com
2. You need to custom the URL to: www.happyflowers.com

Customizing your domain helps you to: 

• Build your brand identity and make it easier for your customers to remember you
• Enhances your creditability and trustworthiness in the business world
• Positively impact your store’s ranking on search results
• It adds a sense of professionalism and indicates to your customers that you are a well-established business

Takeaway from this section:

→ A Shopify URL is a web address to your store

→ By default, during sign-up, Shopify gives your store yourbrandname.myshopify.com URL

→ You can customize this URL to align with your business

How to Change Domain Name on Shopify?

Now, let us turn this understanding of the Shopify domain into an actionable task. And learn how to change domain names on Shopify.

There are three ways to change your domain name:

1. Create a New Myshopify Domain
2. Buy a Custom Shopify Domain
3. Transfer a Third-party Domain to Shopify

Let us look at each in detail.

1. Create a New Myshopify Domain

By now, you know Shopify offers a default domain name ending with myshopify.com.

If you are planning to go ahead with this format but are willing to change the name, it is doable.

Continuing your Happy Flowers example.

If, by default, the name is set as happyflowers.myshopify.com and you wish to change it to myhappyflowers.myshopify.com, here’s how you can do it.

Log into your Shopify admin and move to Settings > Domains.

Select the domain URL you wish to edit and enter the new domain name in the Change to a new myshopify.com domain box

Click “Add domain.”

💡 Do remember:

• You can only change your default domain name once.
• There is no cost involved in changing the default domain name.

2. Buy a Custom Shopify Domain

The second option here is using a Shopify custom domain. You can buy a specific domain name from Shopify. This might be a convenient option if you are not looking for any third-party provider and want to manage everything within Shopify.

More on that later.

3. Transfer a Third-party Domain to Shopify

In case you already have a custom domain, you can transfer it to Shopify.

The good part here is that you are not limited to sticking with only Shopify for your domain needs.

You can make use of any third-party domain provider as well.

In this blog, How To Transfer a Domain to Shopify Seamlessly, we have covered this topic from every angle and you will also learn how to and you will also learn how to connect a domain to Shopify.

(We recommend you check it out.)

How to Buy a Shopify Domain?

Let us step-by-step look at this process.

Log into your Shopify account and head Settings > Domains.

From the right-hand side, click on the Buy new domain button, and you will see the box to enter the domain of your choice

Now, choose a domain that is available with a suitable extension like .com or .biz. And if you are going country-specific, you can go for .uk or .in

After you are sure of the domain you want, you can move ahead and click “Buy.” The important thing to note here is that your online payment in Shopify must be activated to complete this process.

Take a final look at the entire process and see if everything is in place.

• Check your personal information
• Check for auto-renew the domain every year
• Confirm if the domain offers WHOIS privacy
• Read all the agreement carefully

If everything looks satisfactory, finish the buying process.

💡 Do remember: 

• New domain takes around 48 hours to start working
• It’s important to verify your email address after purchasing your domain. If you don’t verify your email address within 15 days, your domain might get suspended.
• While using country-specific domains, you might have to verify some residency information

How Much Does a Shopify Domain Cost?

The myshopify domains are free of cost and are available to all merchants.

However, if you go for a custom domain, the pricing may vary.

Generally, the cost of Shopify domain can range between $15 to $30 per annum with some additional charges. The exact amount can vary depending on the TLD (Top-level domain) you opt for.

For example, .com domains cost more than .biz ones.

Here’s the summary of average Shopify domain costs by TLDs.

Top-level domains	Pricing
.com	$14
.info	$24
.net	$17
.org	$17
.site	$14
.store	$13
.tech	$37
.work	$15
.blog	$28
.xyz	$17

How to Set Primary Domain in Shopify?

The primary domain is basically the main domain of your online store that the customers will use to access your store.

Using Shopify, you can create multiple domains. To be precise, you can up to 20 domains and subdomains, but only one domain can be your primary domain.

Shopify, by default, uses yourbrandname.myshopify.com as the primary domain, but don’t worry.

You can change it to a custom domain.

Here’s how to to do it.

Log into your Shopify account and head to Settings > Domains

From the list of domains, click on the one you wish to set as the primary domain

Click change domain type and select primary domain

And the primary domain is set!

💡 Do remember: 

• Your Shopify store can have only one primary domain.
• If you wish to set a custom domain as the primary domain, then you need to add a custom domain. It might take 48 hours to connect your custom domain.
• After changing the primary domain, the new primary domain will appear to the customers who visit your store.
• If your customer enters your other domain, which is listed on the domain pages, they will automatically redirected to the primary domain.

How To Cancel a Shopify Domain?

If you no longer want to keep working on a particular domain, here are the simple steps on how to cancel a Shopify domain:

In Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains and select the domain you want to remove.

Click “delete domain.”

And confirm the domain deletion.

Why Use Shopify Managed Domains?

• Shopify Manage Domain comes in handy to handle any domain setting of your online store. It is basically a management system for your domains.
• From your Shopify admin, you can manage various activities and have complete control over your domain-related tasks.
• You can easily configure automatic renewal of your domain, add subdomains, and edit your DNS settings from your Shopify admin.
• Easily lets you set the primary domain and edit your domain name.

5 Expert Tips for Choosing Your Next Shopify Domain

Before we end, here is a word of advice from our Shopify experts. Use them while picking your domain to ensure you are taking the right steps in this process.

1. Keep your Shopify domain name short, simple, and easy to remember
2. If possible, add your keyword to your domain name
3. Avoid using numbers or hyphens to make your brand look more professional
4. Try to avoid repeating letters to avoid any confusion

Frequently Asked Questions on Shopify Domains

1. Can I connect 2 domains to Shopify?
You can add multiple domains to your Shopify store, but there can be one primary domain.

2. Can I just buy domain from Shopify?
Yes, you can easily buy a domain from Shopify.

3. Is domain name free in Shopify?
Every store owner gets a free default domain name.

Wrapping up

Shopify is a well-equipped tool to not only build your store but also to manage any of your domain requirements.

We hope our blog helped you in understanding Shopify domains better and the elements around it (like how to buy a domain, how to change shopify managed domains, and setup of Shopify domains).

As you have mastered this part of building your store, here are some related guides that will help you take the next step.

• How to Grow Your Shopify Store
• How to Drive Traffic to Your Shopify Store [6 Proven Ways]
• How to Set Up a Shopify Store: Complete Guide

Thank you for reading till the end! Good luck with your Shopify journey.