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When You Publish Your Blog To A Custom Domain, Almost Always Publish To The "www" Alias

Of all of the known problems with Blogger, in general - and of the known problems with Blogger / Google Custom Domain Publishing, specifically - surely the most frustrating single problem starts with the well known monolithic error
Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.

The most frequently seen solution to this problem, contrary to the opinions expressed in some blogs and websites, starts with correction of the domain DNS addresses. But even after careful DNS address correction, some blog owners still report the well known "Another blog ..." error.

Maybe 99.99% of the custom domain published blogs use what I call an asymmetrical DNS address configuration.
mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.32.21
mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.34.21
mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.36.21
mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
Note the restriction with the asymmetrical configuration, sometimes overlooked.
With an asymmetrical configuration, you may not publish to the domain root. Your only valid choice is to publish to "www.mydomain.com", and select "Redirect mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com". If you publish to "mydomain.com", you will eventually see
Blogs may not be hosted at naked domains.
or maybe a well known monolithic error
Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.

The conclusion is simple. Unless you intentionally created a symmetrical or non root virtual host address configuration, always publish to the "www" host. And, even though you do publish to the "www" host, understand that righteous addressing of the domain root is a necessity - not an option.

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Comments

JS said…
I have read a few posts of yours and others, and I am not certain the answer to this question:

If someone dileberately wants their blog to be accessed and views at the naked domain, can this be done? (It seems you allude that a symmetrical configuration may do this, but I'm not clear how to set that up.)

Thanks!
Nitecruzr said…
JS,

If you use an asymmetrical DNS setup (as all domains purchased using "Buy a domain"), you have to publish to the "www" alias.

You can still allow the blog to be accessed at the domain root ("naked domain"), if you redirect the domain root to the published URL.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2011/03/in-custom-domain-publishing-naked.html
Fashion Addict said…
Hi Chuck,
Could proper symmetrical DNS configuration allow use of naked domain in Blogger?

Cheers,
ATFF

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