How to Park HostGator Registered Domains on Google for Domains.

Webmasters with domains that are not currently active can earn money by utilizing the Google for Domains feature. Rather than have your inactive domain sit there and not do anything but collect dust, it makes sense to take advantage of the Google for Domain feature to earn a couple of bucks. You may not earn a lot, but if the domain is currently earning nothing, what do you have to lose?

Adding Domain Name to Google for Domains

The easy part of the process is adding the domain name to Google for Domains. All you have to do is log into your Google AdSense account, select “AdSense Setup,” click on “AdSense for Domains” and select the “Add new domains” link.

The “Add new domains” link will bring you to the “Add Parked Domains” page. Here is where you enter the parked domain names. Enter only one per line up to a maximum of 100 domain names. You don’t have to type in the “www,” use the domainname.com format. You can also upload domain names from a CSV file. Make sure to select the appropriate language and click “Add domain(s)”.

Domain Configuration Information

The next page will give you the necessary information to configure the domain to point to the AdSense for Domains. The configuration information comes in two sets. The first set of information contains the record type and DNS address and the second set of information is the CNAME alias and the AdSense information specific to your Google publisher’s ID.

The Google website shows step-by-step instructions on how to configure domains hosted/registered by several companies, but as of this writing, they do not offer step-by-step instructions for domains registered/hosted by HostGator. Although it’s not difficult to do, it can be tricky if you don’t know the right steps.

Setting up Google for Domains on HostGator Sites

Here’s how to set up your HostGator domain name to park it with Google for Domains:

Login to your HostGator account. Access your account by typing in domainname.com/cpanel.

Locate the Simple DNS Zone Editor. You’ll find the icon under the “Domains” section on the cpanel home page. In order to find it quickly, depress “CTRL + F” keys and type in DNS.

Select the domain name you want parked on Google for Domains.

Scroll down to the “Add an A Record” section. This is where you’ll enter the first set of information provided by Google. In the Name textbox insert the letter “A” and in the Address textbox enter the first set of Google provided DNS numbers and click “Add a Record.” Repeat the process three more times with the next three sets of DNS numbers.

Next scroll down to the “Add a CNAME Record.” Here you will insert this second set of information provided by Google. In the Names textbox type in “www” and in the CNAME textbox you will list the CNAME information Google provided for you (that is the publisher ID specific information). Then click “Add CNAME Record.” If you get an error telling you that there is already a www for the domain, scroll down to the “User-Defined Records” section, locate the offending name www.domainname.com and delete it. Then go back to the CNAME record and put in the information provided by Google.

Wait and See

Now that you have your domain name configured the rest is up to Google. It can take up to 24 hours for them to validate the information, but once it’s validated, your parked domain will start serving adds.

Make sure to check back after 24 hours to ensure the domain is displaying properly. 

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