Domain — your web address

What this screen is for. Two jobs in plain words: your free HomeRecon address (yourfirm.homerecon.ai), which is live now, and — if you own one — your own web address (www.yourdomain.com) pointed at your site, with the padlock. You type your domain once; HomeRecon works out who holds it and shows you the one record to add at that company. That's the whole job. How to get there. Marketing → My Website → Domain. What every button does Your HomeRecon web address (the free one): Pick the first part — type one short name, like tater-tots; it cleans itself as you go (letters, numbers, dashes) in front of the fixed .homerecon.ai. It has to be unique across HomeRecon — if it's taken, saving tells you plainly. Type a real address by mistake — tatertots.com, or www. — and the box keeps just the first name, tells you that a .com never goes here, and offers to take you to Custom domain below. Long names get a shorter suggestion (tater-tots.homerecon.ai) with a one-tap Use button; 32 characters is the most it will take. Save address — saves it. The *.homerecon.ai wildcard is live, so the preview reads "Your free HomeRecon address is live now — …" with an openable link, and the saved note confirms "your site answers at … now." Your own domain (one box, one record): The domain box — type the domain you own any way you like: yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com, even pasted with https:// in front. HomeRecon cleans it up and tells you the address it will serve before you tap Add domain. Two names. Type yourdomain.com and HomeRecon sets up both www.yourdomain.com and the plain yourdomain.com — each gets its own card, its own record and its own padlock, so both show your site. Add domain — saves the domain and opens its card. HomeRecon looks up who holds your domain — GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Epik, Squarespace, IONOS and so on — and shows that company's records, with a link to the page where they go. If we can't tell who holds it, the card says "your domain provider" and the records work anywhere. The www record — one line, with a Copy button beside each part: Type CNAME, Name www, Value sites.homerecon.ai. It is typed the way your company wants it: GoDaddy and Namecheap want only www in the Name box (they fill in your domain for you); Amazon Route 53 wants the full www.yourdomain.com; when we don't know your company we show both spellings. Adding this one record points your address at your site and proves the domain is yours — there is nothing else to prove. If a record named www already exists, replace it. Where to click at GoDaddy (or Namecheap, Cloudflare, Epik…) — right above the record, a numbered list of every click in that company's own menu names: where to sign in, which tab to open, how to delete the old www row first, and exactly which boxes to fill. The record stays right under it — that's the thing you copy from. If we don't recognize your company, the list is the same three steps in plain words, "at your domain provider". The lists are written out below under Where to click. Make yourdomain.com work without www — the plain name's own card. Every record still points at the same sites.homerecon.ai; what changes is the way your company can do a plain name: a CNAME Cloudflare flattens for you (if your DNS is on Cloudflare), or your company's own forwarding of the plain name to www (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace, IONOS, Porkbun and most others). Epik can do neither — its card says so and names the two ways out: move the domain's DNS to Cloudflare (free), or ask Epik for domain forwarding. Nobody is ever asked to type an IP address; our hosting refuses a plain name pointed that way. The green one-click button — some registrars — GoDaddy, Cloudflare, IONOS, NameSilo — can add the record for you; when yours can, a green button appears instead of the record. Tap it, sign in at your provider, approve, and you land back here with everything placed. "Prefer to do it by hand?" keeps the record one tap away. Check now — asks HomeRecon to look for your record right away. You don't have to: we check on our own every couple of minutes. The status line — one sentence that says where things stand, with your own company's name in it: "Waiting for your record at GoDaddy — we check every couple of minutes. Tap Check now once you've added it." "We see you own it, but www.yourdomain.com still isn't pointed at HomeRecon — add the record in step 1, then tap Check now." "Found your record. The padlock is being issued — usually a few minutes." "Live — www.yourdomain.com shows your site." "We couldn't verify this address after a week of trying. Double-check the record below at GoDaddy, then tap Check now to start again — or remove it; unverified addresses are forgotten after 14 days." Remove (the trash button) — asks first, then takes the address off your site and releases its certificate. Where to click The same lists the card shows, for the four companies most inspectors are at. Everywhere, the www record is: Type CNAME, Name (or Host) www, Value sites.homerecon.ai. Delete the old www row first — a parking page or an old forward leaves a record on www that beats yours. The plain name's record follows, the way each company can do it. GoDaddy Sign in at godaddy.com → My Products → Domain Portfolio → click your domain. On the Domain Settings page open the DNS tab. If a row named www already exists (Type A or CNAME), open its ⋯ menu → Delete. One www row only. Add New Record → Type CNAME → Name: www → Value: sites.homerecon.ai → leave TTL as is → Save. The plain name (GoDaddy forwards it — until you do this, yourdomain.com without www shows nothing): DNS tab → Forwarding → Add Forwarding. Forward to: Domain → https:// → www.yourdomain.com → Permanent (301) → Forward only (never "with masking") → Save. If GoDaddy offers to keep the path, turn it on. Namecheap Sign in at namecheap.com → Domain List → Manage next to your domain. Open the Advanced DNS tab → Host Records. If a row with Host www already exists (A Record, CNAME or URL Redirect), click its trash can. One www row only. Add New Record → Type: CNAME Record → Host: www → Value: sites.homerecon.ai → TTL: Automatic → click the green ✓ to save. The plain name (Namecheap forwards it — until you do this, yourdomain.com without www shows nothing): Same Host Records list → Add New Record → Type: URL Redirect Record. Host: @ → Value: https://www.yourdomain.com → Permanent (301) → click the green ✓. Namecheap keeps the rest of the address for you. Cloudflare Sign in at dash.cloudflare.com → click your domain. Left menu: DNS → Records. If a row named www already exists, Edit → Delete → Delete again to confirm. Add record → Type: CNAME → Name: www → Target: sites.homerecon.ai → Proxy status: DNS only (grey cloud, NOT orange) → Save. The plain name (a CNAME Cloudflare flattens for you): DNS → Records: if a row named @ (or your domain) already exists, Edit → Delete → Delete again to confirm. Add record → Type: CNAME → Name: @ → Target: sites.homerecon.ai → Proxy status: DNS only (grey cloud) → Save. Epik Sign in at epik.com → Registrar → click your domain → DNS Records. Open External Hosts (A, AAAA). If there is a line for www, delete it (trash can). One www line only. Open Subdomains (CNAME) → Add Record → Host: www → Points to: sites.homerecon.ai. Save Changes. The plain name: Epik can't do it. Its "Subdomains (ALIAS)" tab does not serve the plain name, it has no forwarding, and an A record is refused by our hosting. Your www address works as is. To make yourdomain.com work too, either move the domain's DNS to Cloudflare (free, about fifteen minutes; then it's one CNAME on @), or ask Epik to turn on domain forwarding for your account. Somewhere else Sign in at your domain provider and open its DNS settings (sometimes called DNS records, DNS management or Advanced DNS) for your domain. If a row named www already exists (A, CNAME or redirect), delete it. One www row only. Add a record: Type CNAME → Name/Host: www → Value/Points to: sites.homerecon.ai → Save. The plain name: look for "Domain forwarding", "URL redirect" or "Web forwarding" and send yourdomain.com to https://www.yourdomain.com, Permanent (301). Turn on the choice that keeps the path (often called "forward path" or "preserve path"), and never pick "masking". If you chose a different name (say inspections.yourdomain.com), every www above is inspections instead, and there is no plain-name card. Why the path matters. The plain name must send people to the same page on www, not always to the home page. So yourdomain.com/services must land on https://www.yourdomain.com/services. If your company's forwarding drops the path, Google sees broken links. Pointing the plain name at us (the Cloudflare CNAME above) avoids this, because then the plain name reaches us and every page address works. Common questions "Can my website be at my own address (mycompany.com)?" Yes. Type it in the box; your site will answer at www.mycompany.com. Add the one record for your provider (or tap the green one-click button), and it goes live with the padlock once the record takes effect — usually within a few minutes, sometimes longer if your provider is slow to publish changes. "How do you know it's GoDaddy?" Every domain publicly names the company that answers for it. HomeRecon reads that and shows that company's record and a link to its page. If yours is held somewhere we don't recognize, you get the record with both spellings of the name. "Don't I have to prove I own the domain?" The record does that. Only someone who can sign in at your domain company can add it, so the moment www.yourdomain.com points at HomeRecon we know the domain is yours. There is no separate code to type. "I only have the short name — do I really need www?" You get both. The www record is the same everywhere; the plain name is whatever your company allows (a flattened CNAME on Cloudflare, or forwarding), and its card tells you which. This is exactly what tripped the first firm to connect a domain — Epik can't do the plain name at all, so its card says so and shows the two ways out. "It's been an hour and it still says waiting." Check the record letter for letter — a stray space, or www.yourdomain.com typed into a box that only wanted www. If your domain is on Cloudflare, the record needs the orange cloud turned off (DNS only). Then tap Check now. "Can I use a different name, like inspections.mycompany.com?" Yes — type it in the box and it's kept as is. The record's Name is inspections instead of www, and there is no plain-name card. "It says my address is already taken." HomeRecon addresses are unique across every firm — try a variation. "Is my free address really live?" Yes — yourfirm.homerecon.ai answers today; the preview and saved note both link straight to it. "Does my free address stop working when my own domain goes live?" No. It keeps working, but it sends visitors on to your own domain. That way Google sees one address for your site, not two. Good to know One record is all it takes. There is no separate ownership code to type — pointing www at HomeRecon is the proof. The green one-click button appears only where the provider has adopted HomeRecon's setup (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, IONOS, NameSilo). Everywhere else it is the same one record, typed the way that company wants it. An address that never connects isn't held hostage — it is forgotten after 14 days, and you can add it again any time. If we couldn't find your record after a week of trying, the card says so and asks you to check it. One main address. If more than one of your own addresses is live, the www one is your main address. Search engines are given only that one. Your own address only ever shows your site. An address nobody has connected shows a neutral "coming soon" page, never another firm's website. Related My Website — where your working address shows Publish — status and traffic SEO & AI — being found once you're live