New Google Domains Need Time To Propagate

We're seeing an increasing number of problem reports, mentioning Google Domains.

Google Domains is becoming a popular registrar for new custom domains - and this leads to more problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue. Many reports look like timing problems, from long ago.

The most common symptom is the mysterious Redirect Warning.

I purchased a Google Domains site, and connected it to Blogger so it redirects my blog to my domain, no problem.

The problem is now when accessing the BlogSpot URL, it now shows a redirect warning message, which is killing my web traffic.

This blog is not hosted by Blogger and has not been checked for spam, viruses and other forms of malware.

How do I publish my blog, and keep my readers, with this confusion?

When a Redirect Warning is reported, we'll check the DNS addresses, and do an HTTP trace.

• Base DNS addresses are righteous.
• The domain is published to the blog - and the blog uses the domain URL, internally.
• The BlogSpot URL redirects, to the warning notice, as noted.

The problem here is DNS propagation, combined with Blogger anti-malware classification.

New custom domains, long ago, had a built in "Transition" period.

Long ago, when Google "Buy a domain" was used for domain purchases, people would see a different "redirect notice" on their blogs, after a domain purchase.

Your blog is in transition

This notice would appear on the dashboard, when "View Blog" was clicked. Blogger would advise the new domain owner to wait "2 to 3 days", while the new domain would propagate to the worlds DNS servers, before publishing the blog to the domain.

Domains published through Google Domains must be watched for spam hosting.

Just as there is no way to prevent hackers and spammers from publishing Blogger blogs, there is no way to prevent them from using Google Domains to purchase and setup domains - that redirect to non Google websites, and serve malware and spam. Domains purchased through Google Domains must be subject to the same scrutiny, as domains purchased through eNom or GoDaddy - or any registrar in China, India, or any other country.

To detect malicious redirections, the Blogger anti-malware classification process must simulate our readers, viewing under real world conditions.

Part of the Blogger anti-malware classification involves checking for blogs containing redirects, that would cause our readers to load malicious or spammy websites, instead of a promised blog. The redirection checking has to include using DNS servers that are subject to real world DNS propagation delay - even when Google Domains is involved.

We "allow 48 to 72 hours" as a worst case scenario.

The stated "48 to 72 hour" delay is a worst case scenario - and in most cases, a few hours should suffice. When a blog owner reports the mysterious redirection notice

This blog is not hosted by Blogger and has not been checked for spam, viruses and other forms of malware.

If we verify righteous DNS addresses, we advise re publishing the blog to the domain.

Publish the blog back to BlogSpot, then re publish to the www host in the domain.

And when the dashboard Publishing display shows successful publishing, an HTTP trace will generally show the BlogSpot URL, properly redirecting to a published blog at the domain URL.

If republishing does not produce results, the domain publishing database may be corrupt. This is a long known problem, with custom domain publishing, and worldwide DNS timing. Use the "Contact support" link at the bottom of the Google Domains dashboard, and request that they reset the domain.

In some cases, the "48 to 72 hour" latency period will need to continue - but as Google Domains becomes more popular, this possibility will slowly decrease.