How to validate domains
Issue
Within our platform, domain validation plays a pivotal role across diverse scenarios. Whether you're customizing your own shortURLs, establishing unique Pages on your domain, or sending emails via our platform, domain validation is a fundamental step. It ensures the seamless integration of your personalized features, guaranteeing a secure and tailored user experience.
Product
- Mobile Marketing Cloud
How can I create a page on my own subdomain?
Below, we provide a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to add a subdomain where you can host your own page on.
The process begins within our pages application, where you can navigate to the Domains menu option in Settings.
To add a new subdomain, click on "Get Started." Please note that adding subdomains involves an additional order. If you haven't purchased a domain yet, a pop-up will guide you. Contact your account manager to initiate the process for adding new subdomains.
Now continue with the flow of adding your subdomain using our generic wizard for validating domains.
How do I validate a domain for ShortUrl's?
Short URLs are abbreviated web addresses that redirect to a longer URL. They are created using a URL shortening service, which takes a lengthy URL and produces a much shorter version, typically consisting of a combination of letters and numbers. The primary purpose of short URLs is to make links more manageable, especially in situations where character count is limited, such as in social media posts or text messages.
For example, a long URL like:
https://www.example.com/very/long/path/to/a/page
Might be shortened to something like:
Short URLs offer several benefits, including:
- Space-saving: Particularly useful in character-limited platforms like Twitter.
- Improved Aesthetics: Short URLs are neater and more visually appealing.
- Ease of Sharing: Short URLs are easier to share verbally and less prone to typos.
You can create these so called ShortUrl's through our campaign and out email campaigns application.
Campaigns
When initiating a new campaign, navigate to the bottom and access the "Shorten Links" dropdown. Here, you can create a new ShortUrl by selecting 'Manage Branded Links'.
Email campaigns
When initiating a new email campaign, navigate to the links tab and access the "Shorten Links" dropdown. Here, you can create a new ShortUrl by selecting 'Manage Branded Links'.
Both entry points will direct you to the Branded Links application, empowering you to validate your domain and craft custom, fully-branded short URLs tailored for your campaigns and landing pages.
Now continue with the flow of adding your subdomain using our generic wizard for validating domains.
How do I validate an email domain?
To incorporate an email domain for sending messages from your own domain, navigate to the Email Campaigns app and access "Verified Domains."
In this section, you can view your already verified domains and add new ones seamlessly.
When adding a new domain, specify the email address from which you intend to initiate email sending. Upon clicking "Start Verification," our system will automatically identify the domain associated with the provided email address.
Now continue with the flow of adding your subdomain using our generic wizard for validating domains.
As the final step (Step 4), you will receive notification that your domain is successfully verified and ready for use. At this point, you have the option to update the sender address and sender name. The sender address is conveniently pre-filled with the initially provided email address.
Generic wizard to validate a domain
After completing the preliminary steps, you'll seamlessly transition into our standardized process for adding domains. Click on "Add Domain" and precisely indicate the subdomain intended for hosting your page or for use with your branded links. Choose the appropriate option based on your purpose: select "This is an empty subdomain just for hosting CM pages" for pages subdomains or "This is an empty subdomain just for generating links" when incorporating branded links.
If the subdomain is already in use for a website select this box and specify the subdomain. You should not have to use this option if you already specified the correct subdomain in the input field.
Important! The domain you choose here cannot be used for any other website
Proceed to "Start verification."
Visit your domain provider's website and locate the page containing your domain records (often labeled as 'Manage Domains,' 'DNS,' or 'Custom Records'). Click "I'm ready" at the bottom of the page to access the records needed for verification.
Now add the records to your domain settings. The place where you can find this differs per domain provider, but generally the below instructions will provide you a generic way in where to find this on your domain providers website.
Verification Instructions:
- Look for a place to create or add a new record.
- Copy the Name from a record and paste it into your record's Name field.
- Choose CNAME for the record Type.
- Copy the Value from the record and paste it into your record's Value field.
- If there's an option for TTL, leave it at the default setting.
- Add or save your record. Repeat this step for all records.
Once filled in on your domain providers' website, click on Continue at the bottom of the page and go to step 3.
This step may take up to 48 hours, depending on your domain provider. Click 'Verify'.
If successful, you will move to step 4. In case it was not successful, you will see the domain overview and those who have failed are marked red. In that case, check your domain providers website if you filled in the details correctly and try verifying again.
Keep your records! The verified records must remain in your domain provider’s DNS settings. Removing them will disable the use of this domain.
In the domains overview, you can view all your valid and invalid subdomains. From here, you can retry a failed one or add new ones.
Video
Below you find a video on how you can verify a domain in the Mobile Marketing Cloud.
