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The Blogosphere, And The Registrar Zone Editor

Sometimes, we see the frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about custom domain setup.
I try to publish my blog to my domain, and I get
We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 14.
even when I know I have added the necessary DNS addresses. Why does Blogger ignore my addresses?
When we check, using multiple tools - such as DigWebInterface, or Kloth, or WhoIs, we see no addresses. Even, in some cases, when the blog owner is thoughtful enough to include well displayed copy of the zone editor display.

One of the biggest challenges in custom domain publishing involves registrars who use unique addressing syntax.

Any registrar is entitled to setup a zone editor, and use any label that they wish, to identify key domain settings.

  • Host Name ("Name" / "Label" / "Host").
  • Host Target ("Data" / "Destination" / "Target" / "Points To").
  • Latency ("Time To Live" / "TTL").
  • Record Type ("Type").

Note the different labels used - which exemplify the confusion.

Let's look at the Google Domains zone editor, as a reference.

Here's the Google Domains zone editor, for instance. The 4 x "A" + "CNAME" tag complement is pretty standard - but the labels and syntax, will vary, by registrar.

The "TXT" tag is my attempt to stay ahead of "SPF" email spoof filters.


The domain owner is responsible for determining the syntax used, in the zone editor provided by the registrar. If the domain owner gets the "Host Name" syntax wrong, and the zone editor adds a Host Name that does not match the host name needed, the "Dig" utility won't, intuitively suggest what host name to lookup.

This is similar to using a dictionary, to verify how a word is spelled. The "Dig" utility will only lookup the host name that is requested, using character by character matching.

If the domain owner adds the wrong host, while using incorrect syntax, all that we can learn from Dig is just what the Blogger dashboard Publishing wizard tells us.

There is no address for that host!

or

We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 14.

There is no Dig utility that will easily identify all hosts setup in a given domain. Many online Dig utilities have warnings, which forbid automated, persistent lookups.

Please do not abuse. No automated queries. No bots.

If you add a host to your domain, and 2 or 3 different Dig lookups do not find that host, it's up to you to contact a CSR at your registrar. Then, ask them what you did wrong, when entering the host Name and / or Target (under whatever label they use). Nobody can do this, for you.

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