Learn all about your Google Workspace domain

Introduction

In this blog, you will learn all about your Google Workspace domains. When you sign up for Google Workspace you need an internet domain name, which is nothing but your organization’s name and a standard internet suffix. For example, your domain name can be mybusiness.com. Here, 'mybusiness' is your organization’s name, and '.com' is the standard internet suffix. So, you can use this domain name for your company website (e.g., www.your-company.com) and email (e.g., [email protected]).

So, having a domain is essential to create a Google Workspace account. But, in case you don’t have one you can purchase a domain while signing up in Google Workspace. It will be your Google Workspace domain. 

How does Google Workspace work with Google domains?

When using Google Workspace, you can create custom email addresses for your Google domain, e.g. [email protected]. Also, you can add email aliases for your domain to manage your inbox.

Google Workspace subscription includes several applications for collaboration and communication with your teammates. You will get apps for custom email, calendars, documents, spreadsheets, video meetings, and more. Some significant features of Google Workspace are –

• Manage your incoming and outgoing emails through Gmail inbox.
• Store your documents in Drive to download and collaborate on them at any time. Google Drive supports more than 40 file formats, such as – videos, PDFs, images, and more.
• You can schedule events in Calendar and send meeting reminders in your Gmail inbox.
• Create a meeting link through Meet and share the link in your Gmail inbox.

To know the other features of Google Workspace, you should learn about Google Workspace features.

Sign up with Google domains for Google Workspace

As an Admin you can create a Google Workspace account and set up billing for this. So, follow these steps to create your Google Workspace account with Google domains –

1. Sign in to your Google Domains.
2. Select a name for your domain.
3. After that, open the menu. 
4. Click Email.
5. Under Get a custom email address, click on Get Google Workspace 

After creating the account, you will get a temporary password in your email. Then, sign up to your Google Workspace account and follow the administrator quick start guides.

Domain identification

Before signing into your Google Workspace domain, identify your domain host or registrar. A domain registrar is an internet company from whom you have purchased your domain name. So, it has the authority to manage your domain name. The domain host uses DNS (Domain Name System) records to link your domain name with websites, emails, and other web services. Some popular domain hosts are Squarespace, GoDaddy, IONOS, and more. Google Workspace checks these DNS records to verify that you’re the legal owner of your domain and routes your organization’s email messages to Google mail servers. 

To get confirmation about your domain registrar’s identity you can take these actions –

• You can check the billing records to find the identity of your domain host. So, need to search your email archives to find out the billing records. From these records, you will find information about your domain registrar or about your domain name transfer.
• In case you don’t find your billing records, you can search your domain host online. Here, you should use the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Lookup tool to find your host. Non-profit organization ICANN collects information about domain names. Know more from here. 
• ICANN Lookup doesn’t enlist any third-party registrar. So, if you use a third-party DNS registrar, you should sign in to the third-party registrar to fetch your domain record.

Settings for Google Domain

You need to access Google Workspace domain settings to verify domain ownership, find out renewal information, and edit the settings. So, you need to access the settings through the following steps –

1. Sign in to the Google Admin Console.
2. Go to the Menu > @ Account > Domains > Manage domains.
3. You can find the View Details option in the Status column next to your domain name.
4. After that, click Advanced DNS settings or Manage domain.

Then, you will find the name and password for your domain host account. By signing in to the domain host account, you can unlock your domain, edit the DNS record for your domain, or transfer the domain.

Google Workspace editions with Google domain

You will find 3 types of Google Workspace editions for subscribing through your Google Domain-

Business Starter

• Provides custom and secured email for business
• 30 GB cloud storage for each user
• Allows up to 100 participants in a video meeting
• Tools which enable collaboration  like – Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Business Standard

• 2 TB cloud storage for each user
• Custom and secure email access for business
• Allows 150 participants in video meetings and recording the meetings

Business Plus

• 5 TB cloud storage for each user
• Includes Vault and Advanced Endpoint Management to improve security and management
• Provides custom and secured business email
• Permits 250 participants in a video meeting and meeting recording, tracks attendance
• Includes collaboration tools, such as – Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Some tips for using your domain with Google Workspace

You can avail of the following Google Workspace services when you’re using domains –

• You must provide your domain name when you sign up for your organization in Google Workspace. It will be your primary domain. The primary domain becomes the brand for your Google services. But your domain name should be associated with a single account at a time. You can’t use one domain name for multiple Google accounts.
• You can use a customized web address for Google Workspace services. You need to update the DNS records of your Domain in the domain host account. Learn how to update the DNS records.
• You can add multiple domains or domain aliases for your Google Workspace account. For example, you may manage work for different departments of your company. So, in this case, you can add multiple domains for multiple departments. Learn more about the user alias domain or secondary domain.

Google domain features

• Secured infrastructure

When you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. The websites integrate with Google Domains. The web uses the same DNS servers as Google and helps your domains to quickly and reliably connect with them. 

DNS is a critical component of internet infrastructure. The ICANN manages your DNS. The DNS works similarly to an index of a book. So, it provides a hierarchical and systematic process to preserve and access data about a website. Furthermore, it enables the web to use domain names like google.com instead of remembering the IP address of a given website. Thus, you will get a secured infrastructure with Google Domains.

• Privacy protection

Google Domains provides privacy protection options free of cost to keep your information private. So, when you register a domain with Google Domains, they keep your registration details, such as – name, contact information, address, and other information private and safe.

But when you register a domain, Google Domains publishes your name and contact information in the WHOIS directory as per ICANN’s requirement. As a result, people can search for your domain name in the WHOIS directory to find your contact information. Thus, Google Domains provides Privacy protection for you. When you turn on the privacy protection, Google Domains replaces your name and contact information with the Contact Privacy and WHOISProxy.

Note: Google Domains don’t offer privacy protection for all domains endings. So, go to the Domain ending (TLD) reference to know the privacy option for your domain.

• Domain forwarding

You can point your domain name to another address and drive users to a single location. You can take this action while purchasing or transferring your domain to Google Domains. For example, you can forward your domain name ‘www.business.net’ to Google Domains, such as ‘www.business.com’. You will get different types of forwarding destinations, such as – root domains, sub-domains, web pages, folders, and IP addresses. Moreover, you can choose different Google Domains forwarding options depending on your requirements, such as – path forwarding, forwarding over SSL, etc.

Know more from Forward your Google domain to a URL or IP address.

• Email forwarding

You can create email aliases (additional email addresses) for your domain free of cost. When you receive any email in these email aliases, Google forwards the email to your primary email address. So, you can read all the received messages in the aliases through your primary email. You can create up to 100 email aliases for your business or professional purposes. If you’re using Google name servers, Google Domains automatically creates Mail Exchange records or MX records to forward emails from the email aliases.

• Custom sub-domains

You can use resource records to create custom sub-domains if you want to create unique pages within your website. Resource records connect the elements of your domain, like – email service providers, hosting for a website, security features, name servers, and custom features. Reliable resource records enhance your web’s security and authenticate the ownership of the domain name. When you add new services to your domain, Google Domains automatically adds new resource records. Moreover, you can modify the resource records and add custom components.

• Domain management tools

You can use different domain management tools for your domains including resource records, such as –

AAAA: It’s a resource record for web hosting. It defines the IPv6 address of a website. 

SPF:  It’s a resource record for email. The SPF (Sender Policy Framework) authenticates the emails sent from your domain name. When a mail server receives mail from your domain, the SPF verifies that you’re the actual sender of the mail. 

NS: NS or Name Server is the resource record for the name servers. It indicates the place from where to find the other resource records for your domain. 

DNSKEY: A DNSKEY or DNS Public Key is a resource record used for security purposes. It has a public signing key to facilitate DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions). Also, it provides security from fake resource records to be inserted when an information exchange takes place between devices.

Learn about other tools from here.

Moreover, you can perform domain locking, add and manage name servers, etc. as the domain management tools. 

Common problem to sign-up in Google Workspace domain and their solution

• Sometimes you don’t find your domain settings.

Solution: Contact your domain host and tell them the issue. 

• You may find difficulties to sign-up in your domain in case you’ve forgotten your password.

Solution: In this case, you need to Reset your administrator password.

• Your Google Workspace account might be suspended.

Solution: You need to restore your Google Workspace services before accessing the domain settings. Know more from Restore a suspended subscription.

Enable automation for Google Workspace with Foresight

Foresight provides an intuitive automated solution for streamlining your business and Google Workspace workflows. It increases the efficiency of Admin and users to design complex business workflows without wasting too much time. Moreover, it provides a simple user interface and implements automation rules without any coding.

Hence, it improves business growth, and productivity, and eliminates the extra resource costs. Learn the use cases, such as – Monitoring and automating user reports in Google Admin, etc. of Foresight to understand its work procedure.

Conclusion

So, now you have a clear understanding of the Google Workspace domain. It’s mandatory to set a domain for your business when you’re subscribing to Google Workspace services. Also, learn about Foresight and how it helps Google Workspace Admin and users find a solution for their regular repetitive tasks. So, try a 14-day free trial of Foresight. Also, you can learn other related topics like – Unlocking Success: The Indispensable Benefits Of Google Workspace Administrator Certification, How To Generate QR Code For Google Form?, Unlock your domain, Manage Google Workspace With Admin Dashboard, How To Make The Most Of Google Trends: Simple Tips, How To Use Google Bard More Efficiently? and more.