How to When connecting your domain name to Blogger, Route your DNS through Cloudflare

Routing your Blogger custom domain through Cloudflare is a smart move. It gives you absolute control over your DNS, speeds up performance, and protects your site from malicious bots.

Because Cloudflare acts as a proxy between your domain registrar and Google’s servers, the setup requires a specific order of operations. Follow this step-by-step guide to get it up and running flawlessly.

Step 1: Get Your Custom DNS Codes from Blogger

Before touching Cloudflare, you need to pull your unique security codes from Google.

1. Log into your Blogger Dashboard and go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Publishing section and click on Custom domain.
3. Type in your full domain name including the www (e.g., www.yourdomain.com) and click Save.
4. An error message will pop up. Do not close this. This message contains two vital CNAME records you need to copy:
   • First CNAME: Name: www | Destination: ghs.google.com
   • Second CNAME (Security token): Name: [A unique short code] | Destination: [A long code ending in googlehosted.com]

Step 2: Add Your Domain to Cloudflare

Next, you need to tell Cloudflare to manage your domain.

1. Create a free account at Cloudflare.com and click Add a Site.
2. Type in your root domain (e.g., yourdomain.com without the www) and click Continue.
3. Select the Free Plan ($0) and click continue.
4. Cloudflare will scan your existing DNS records. If it finds old records from your registrar, it will list them. Click Continue to move to the nameserver stage.

Step 3: Point Your Registrar to Cloudflare Nameservers

To hand control over to Cloudflare, you must change your nameservers where you bought your domain (Namecheap, GoDaddy, DomainKing, etc.).

1. Cloudflare will show you two specific nameservers (e.g., sara.ns.cloudflare.com and tom.ns.cloudflare.com).
2. Open a new tab, log into your domain registrar, and find your domain’s Nameserver settings.
3. Switch them from “Default” to “Custom Nameservers” and paste the two Cloudflare nameservers into the fields.
4. Save the changes.⚠️ Important: If your registrar has a setting called DNSSEC, turn it OFF. Leaving DNSSEC enabled during a switch can cause Blogger integration to fail.

Step 4: Add the Blogger Records into Cloudflare

Now that Cloudflare controls your DNS, you can insert Google’s routing records.

1. Go back to your Cloudflare dashboard and click on the DNS tab -> Records.
2. Click Add Record to add the following 6 records:

The 2 CNAME Records (From Step 1)

• Record 1: Type: CNAME | Name: www | Target: ghs.google.com | Proxy Status: DNS Only (Grey Cloud) * Record 2: Type: CNAME | Name: [Your unique short token] | Target: [Your unique long googlehosted.com token] | Proxy Status: DNS Only (Grey Cloud)

🛑 Crucial Step for Blogger: For both CNAME records, click the orange cloud toggle to change it to Grey Cloud (DNS Only). If you leave them “Proxied” (Orange Cloud) right now, Google’s security bots will fail to verify your ownership, and Blogger will throw an error. You can switch the www record back to Orange Cloud after the site successfully connects.

The 4 Google A-Records (For Naked Domain Redirection)

To ensure that people who type yourdomain.com (without the www) still land on your blog, add these four separate A-records pointing to Google’s IPs. Leave these as Proxied (Orange Cloud):

• Record 3: Type: A | Name: @ | IPv4 address: 216.239.32.21
• Record 4: Type: A | Name: @ | IPv4 address: 216.239.34.21
• Record 5: Type: A | Name: @ | IPv4 address: 216.239.36.21
• Record 6: Type: A | Name: @ | IPv4 address: 216.239.38.21

Step 5: Finalize Settings in Blogger

Once your nameserver changes propagate (this can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour), you can finalize the link.

1. Go back to your Blogger Dashboard -> Settings -> Custom Domain.
2. Type your www.yourdomain.com back in and hit Save. This time, instead of an error, it should successfully save.
3. Once saved, turn on Redirect domain (this forces yourdomain.com to safely point to www.yourdomain.com).
4. Scroll slightly down and turn on HTTPS availability and HTTPS redirect. Google requires all AdSense-approved sites to use SSL.

Give it up to 24 hours for all global servers to update, and your securely routed, Cloudflare-optimized Blogger site will be ready for traffic!