Transfer a Google Domain to WordPress.com

You can transfer a domain from Google to WordPress.com. This guide will walk you through each step of the process.

In this guide

1. Step 1: Unlock Your Domain
2. Step 2: Get your Domain Transfer Authorization Code
3. Step 3: Initiate the Domain Transfer
4. Step 4: Finalize the Transfer
5. Step 5: Expedite the transfer
   1. Check the Transfer Status
6. Step 6: Set Up the DNS

Step 1: Unlock Your Domain

To unlock your Google domain for transferring it to WordPress.com, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Domains dashboard to see a list of all of your registered domains:

The Google Domains dashboard

2. Click on the domain you want to transfer.
3. Click on “Registration settings” in the left sidebar:

Registration settings for a Google domain.

4. Click on the toggle in the Domain is unlocked section to unlock your domain for transfer:

Google domain lock toggle.

Step 2: Get your Domain Transfer Authorization Code

The domain owner must provide an authorization code to begin the transfer process. To copy the transfer authorization code, follow these steps:

1. Once you unlock the domain, scroll down the page to the “Transfer out” section and click the “Get auth code” link:

Get the transfer auth code of your Google domain.

2. Copy the transfer code shown in the pop-up window:

Copy the domain transfer authorization code to your computer’s clipboard.

Step 3: Initiate the Domain Transfer

If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, you can visit the domain transfer page here to create an account and start the domain transfer.

If you already have a WordPress.com account, follow these steps to begin transferring your domain to your WordPress.com account:

1. Visit the All Domains page.
2. Click on the “Add Domain” button on the top right of the page and select the “Transfer domains” option in the dropdown menu:

Click Add a domain then Transfer domains

3. Review the steps to transfer your Google domain to WordPress.com. When you’re ready, click “Get started” to continue.
4. In the next screen, you will see a prompt to provide your domain name and unique authorization code (that you copied in the previous step.) You can also click “Add more” to include additional domains and transfer them all together:

Add the transfer authorization code and add additional domains to transfer.

5. After adding your domains, click the “Start transfer” button to proceed to checkout. 

Step 4: Finalize the Transfer

Complete the checkout to confirm the transfer. The next screen will provide a confirmation message summarizing the progress of your domain transfer. You will also receive an email from WordPress.com confirming that your domain transfer is in progress and should complete within five to seven days. To speed up the transfer, continue to Step 5 below.

Step 5: Expedite the transfer

You can speed up the domain transfer to WordPress.com by following these steps:

1. Check for a confirmation email from Google. This will be sent to the domain contact email you used to register the domain.
2. Click the “Cancel or Approve Transfer” button in the email.

Transfer confirmation email from Google.

3. On the next screen, you’ll see a pop-up message from Google Domains asking you to confirm the transfer. To speed up the transfer to WordPress.com, click the “Transfer” option.

Confirm the domain transfer by clicking the Transfer option on the popup message.

Check the Transfer Status

To check the status of your domain transfer, navigate to Upgrades → Domains in your WordPress.com account. Each of your domains will be listed here, with one of the following in the Status column:

• Waiting: You added a domain transfer but have not finalized the transfer process. If you don’t submit the transfer within 25 days, the transfer will be removed from your account.
• In Progress: You have submitted the authorization code and confirmed the transfer. You cannot change any domain settings during this time.
• Active: The transfer is finished, and you can manage the DNS records on your domain.
• Failed: The transfer cannot be completed. If the failed transfer isn’t restarted within 14 days of the original purchase, it will automatically be removed from your account.

Once the transfer is complete, you may receive an email requesting you to verify your contact information for each domain.

Step 6: Set Up the DNS

If you have a website, email, subdomains, and any other DNS-reliant services set up with your domain on Google, you may need to copy the necessary DNS records to your domain in your WordPress.com account. While your DNS records may be imported to WordPress.com during the transfer, it’s important to review your DNS records to ensure all necessary records are present on the domain on WordPress.com.

First, note down the necessary DNS records added in Google Domains or export them as a BIND file. Follow these steps to check they are also present on WordPress.com, and then activate WordPress.com name servers:

1. Starting from your WordPress.com dashboard, navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP-Admin).
2. Click on your domain name.
3. Select “DNS records” and then “Manage” to view the records on WordPress.com.
   • If all required records are present (i.e., they match what you had on Google Domains), proceed to the next step.
   • If any records are missing, click the “Add a record” button and add the details for each record. Alternatively, if you exported your DNS records as a BIND file, click the “Import BIND file” button. Learn more about importing DNS records.
4. Back in your domain settings, click “Name servers” and toggle on the “Use WordPress.com name servers” option. Your domain will now use the DNS records present on WordPress.com, not Google Domains.

Further information:

• Manage Your DNS Records
• Add Email with an Existing Google Workspace Account
• Add Email Through Other Providers