Setup guide

Giving me access to your GoDaddy domain

To put your site on your own domain I need to add two records at GoDaddy. GoDaddy has a feature made for exactly this, called Delegate Access. You invite me by email, I get the one screen I need, and you never hand over your password or your card.

Takes about 5 minutes.

Sign in to GoDaddy and open Delegate Access
Delegate Access lives in your account settings, under your own name in the top corner. GoDaddy rearranges that menu from time to time, so if you cannot spot it, search their help site for Delegate Access and follow their link in.
You have to be signed in as the person who owns the account. If your spouse or your office manager bought the domain, this has to be done from their login.
godaddy.com
Your accountAccount settingsDelegate Access
People who can access my account
Invite to Access
Accounts I can access
Two sections on one page. You want the top one, the people who can access your account. The bottom one is for accounts you have been invited into.
Select Invite to Access and enter my details
In the section called People who can access my account, select Invite to Access. GoDaddy asks for a name and an email address.
Name: Jake Sebok. Email: jake@localcraftdigital.com. Check the email against this page before you send it. The invitation goes to that address and nowhere else, so a typo means it lands in a stranger's inbox or bounces.
Choose the access level Domains Only
GoDaddy offers four levels. Pick Domains Only. GoDaddy's current permission system lets a domain delegate receive Management Access to DNS, nameservers, forwarding, locks, renewal, and subdomains without opening the rest of the products in your account.
Skip Products, Domains, & Purchase. That level authorizes purchases against the payment method saved on your account. I have no use for it and I should not be trusted with it. Nobody asking for DNS access needs to be able to buy things.
What you are actually handing me
Domains Only with Management Access lets me sign into your account as a delegate, open the domain, edit its DNS records and nameservers, manage forwarding, locks, renewal, and subdomains. That is real access to your domain. You should feel the weight of it.
It does not let me see or use your saved payment method, see your password, view your order history, invite other people into your account, or accept a domain transfer. GoDaddy blocks a delegate from all of those at every level.
You can change my level or remove me entirely from the same Delegate Access page, any time, without asking me. When the site is live and settled, removing me is a reasonable thing to do.
Why not Products & Domains
Products & Domains also works, but it opens every product control panel in the account. DNS work does not need that broader access when GoDaddy's domain Management Access is available.
The permission labels have changed over time, so if your account does not show Domains Only, send me a screenshot and I will match the smallest current option to the work.
Invite to Access
Products, Domains, & Purchase
Products & Domains
Domains Only
Accounts Connection Only
Four levels, top to bottom. Pick Domains Only. It gives the domain its own permission controls without opening unrelated GoDaddy products.
Send it, then text me
GoDaddy emails me the invitation and tells you when I accept.
The invitation expires on its own somewhere between 48 and 72 hours. Treat it as 48. Send me a text when you hit send and I will accept it the same day. If it lapses, nothing is broken, you just have to send a fresh one.
Only if you use domain folders
Most people can skip this. If you have never grouped your domains into folders inside GoDaddy's Domain Portfolio, you are done. New delegates get the default All Domains folder automatically.
If you do use folders, the folder carries its own permission on top of the invitation. My invite will show as accepted and healthy while I still cannot reach the domain. To fix it: open Domain Portfolio, select the folders icon above the domain list, choose the folder your domain sits in, select Edit Folder, turn Management Access on, leave Transfer Access off, and save.
Transfer Access stays off
Transfer Access is a separate toggle and it is a much bigger one. It lets a delegate start a transfer of your domain to another registrar, delete the domain, and list it for sale. I never need it and I will never ask for it. Management Access covers everything DNS work requires.

What I change once I am in

I open your domain, go to the DNS tab, and add two records. One points your bare domain at the new site. One points the www version at the same place. That is the entire change.

Type	Name / Host	Value
A	`@`	the IP address I send you
CNAME	`www`	the hostname I send you

The two values are different for every site, so I send you yours rather than printing them here. Copy them exactly, including any trailing dot.

I do not change your nameservers, and neither should anyone else

Adding those two records leaves the rest of your DNS alone, including the MX records that deliver your email. Switching nameservers is a different thing entirely. It moves your whole zone somewhere new and abandons every record still sitting at GoDaddy. Email stops. Not with an error, just with nothing arriving.

This bites GoDaddy customers hardest because a lot of you bought Microsoft 365 email from GoDaddy along with the domain. GoDaddy set those mail records up for you, which means you have never seen them and cannot tell anyone what they were.

I have lost a client's email this way once. It is why the record method above is the only way I do this now. If anyone ever tells you to switch your nameservers, ask them first what happens to your mail.

If you would rather do it yourself

Completely fine, and it is safe. I send you the two exact values and you paste them in. From your GoDaddy account, open Domain Portfolio, select your domain to open Domain Settings, then select the DNS tab. Add each record and save.

Domain Settings

Domain Portfolioyourdomain.comDNS

Domain Settings

DNS

Contacts

Add record

The DNS tab inside your domain, not the account level menu. Add each record from there and save it.

Three things trip nearly everyone up:

The Name or Host field takes the prefix only. Type www, not www.yourdomain.com. For the bare domain, type @.
Copy the CNAME value exactly as I send it, including the dot on the end if there is one. It is part of the value.
Delete the old records rather than adding alongside them. A brand new or unused GoDaddy domain usually ships with a parked A record or domain forwarding switched on, and either one will fight the new record and win at random.

One more, in case a tool suggests it: the bare domain has to be an A record. It cannot be a CNAME. A CNAME there collides with the mail records that have to live at the same level, which takes your email down.

Stuck anywhere in this?

Text or call me at (314) 246-9224, or email hello@localcraftdigital.com. I will stay on the phone and do it with you, and it takes about five minutes. This page is here to save you a call, not to refuse one.

Prefer to compare this against the source? Read GoDaddy's official Delegate Access instructions and its guide to domain folder permissions.