# White-label your hosted social experience

Set a brand-owned domain for the hosted social experience in your Business Account, for production and QA, and learn what changes once it goes live.

White-labelling moves your hosted social experience from its default Genuin address, such as `yourbrand.begenuin.com`, to a hostname on your own domain, such as `community.yourbrand.com`. Genuin no longer appears in the URL, so visitors meet the experience as part of your website or app rather than a separate tool.

You add one CNAME record at your DNS provider and enter the hostname in your Business Account. Genuin validates the record, issues the TLS certificate, and switches your links to the new domain.

A white-labelled domain makes the hosted social experience part of your O&O. Visitors stay on your domain, with your branding and navigation, and the data from their visits stays with you. Sponsorships, memberships, and commerce run there without sending anyone off your brand. For where this fits in Onsite, see [Onsite: what it does and where to start](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/onsite-what-it-does-and-where-to-start).

## Add your domain in your Business Account

Before you start, point your hostname at your default domain with a CNAME record. For the record's values and the steps at common DNS providers, see [Point your domain to your hosted social experience](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/can-you-host-your-brand-community-on-your-own-domain-with-a-white-label-setup).

Use a subdomain of your domain, such as `community.yourbrand.com`. Enter it with lowercase letters, digits, hyphens, and dots, and a top-level domain of 2 to 6 letters, without `https://`, a path, or a trailing slash.

> **Note** Getting Started steps unlock in order, and each finished step is marked as done. Publish Brand Community opens once you finish the Launch Community Media Network steps, and the white-label step comes after Brand Community.

1. Sign in to your Business Account. The dashboard opens on **Getting Started**.
   ![The Getting Started page in your Business Account, with Add Brand Elements expanded in the onboarding checklist and step 1 of 4, Confirm your brand assets, showing the brand logo uploads.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/lnrtvsvr/development/08488d9ac91151b202366c261b40b1f01ff0f5e0-1873x911.jpg)
   *Step 1: White-label setup lives in the Getting Started onboarding checklist.*
2. In the checklist, expand **Publish Brand Community** and click **White label Settings**. The page opens on **Set up white label domain**, with a short DNS guide, **Steps to White-Label Your Subdomain**.
   ![The Set up white label domain step in White label Settings, with the Steps to White-Label Your Subdomain DNS guide expanded and the production Current Domain below.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/lnrtvsvr/development/e26776048e7c451b621521da6454cc0b6453f8ec-1873x912.jpg)
   *Step 2: White label Settings opens with a short guide to the CNAME record.*
3. Under **For Production Environment**, note the **Current Domain**. It's the default domain your CNAME record points to.
4. Enter your hostname in **White Label URL** and click **Save**.
   ![White label Settings with Current Domain ted.begenuin.com and shorts.ted.com entered in White Label URL under For Production Environment, and a For QA Environment section below.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/lnrtvsvr/development/b22e95e45887617899870cc7b779535fbff2aec5-1876x910.jpg)
   *Step 4: Enter the hostname under For Production Environment and click Save.*
5. (Optional) Under **For QA Environment**, enter a second hostname in **White Label URL** and click **Save**.
6. Click **Continue** to move to the next onboarding step, or **Skip for now** to come back later.

Business Account confirms the save, notifies the brand's admins, and marks the onboarding step complete.

> **Note** Make sure the CNAME record resolves before you rely on the new domain. A wrong or missing record delays the switch and leaves the hostname unreachable; fix the record at your DNS provider and wait for the next validation.

## Wait for validation

Genuin checks the CNAME record every 4 hours. Once the record resolves to your default domain, Genuin enables the domain. The TLS certificate for your hostname is issued automatically the first time a browser requests it.

For example, if you save `community.yourbrand.com` and the record already resolves, the domain goes live within 4 hours. Open `https://community.yourbrand.com`: it redirects to `/home`, and the padlock shows a certificate for your hostname.

If the hostname still shows an error 24 hours after your record resolved, send the hostname to support@begenuin.com.

## White-label the QA environment

Your hosted social experience has a QA copy at `<subdomain>.test.begenuin.com`, shown as **Current Domain** under **For QA Environment**. To white-label it too, point a second hostname, such as `community-test.yourbrand.com`, at the QA domain and save it under **For QA Environment**.

The production and QA hostnames must differ. If you use both environments, map both before you go live.

## What changes once the domain is live

- **Share links** for communities, videos, and profiles use your hostname: `/community/<handle>`, `/video/<id>`, and `/profile/<nickname>`. Links shared before the switch keep working, because the default domain redirects them to your hostname.
- **Emails** that Genuin sends for the brand, including invitations, link to your hostname.
- **Sign-in** works on your hostname, because Genuin adds it to the allowed origins for authentication. To sign members in with your own identity provider, see [Set up single sign-on with your identity provider](https://begenuin.com/developers/developer-resources/api/log-in-seamlessly-across-your-brand-ecosystem-using-sso).
- **Search and link previews** use your hostname in the sitemap and in `og:url`. Submit the new domain's sitemap to the search engines; a sitemap submitted for the default domain doesn't carry over. Learn more in [Optimize your social experience for search and LLM discovery](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/how-does-genuin-optimize-brand-communities-for-seo-and-llm-discoverability).
- **Embeds and SDKs** don't change. They identify your brand by API key, not by hostname. Learn more in [Embed your social experience on your website](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/can-your-website-become-community-hub-without-building-a-new-platform).
- **The default domain** redirects every page to the same page on your hostname, so promote only the white-label hostname.

## Fix common errors

| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Invalid URL format when you save | The value has a scheme, a path, uppercase letters, or a top-level domain longer than 6 letters | Enter the bare hostname, such as community.yourbrand.com |
| The save fails because the URL already exists | Another brand registered the same hostname | Pick a different hostname, or contact support if the hostname is yours |
| The hostname shows an error more than 4 hours after the record resolved | Validation hasn't run yet, or the record's target differs from your default domain | Compare the target with Current Domain character by character, then wait for the next check |
| The browser warns about the certificate | The certificate is issued on the first request after Genuin enables the domain | Reload after a minute; if the warning persists, contact support |

## Configure what comes next

After white-labelling, most teams move on to:

- **Onsite feed placements**. Learn more in [Build a placement with styles, sections, and variables](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/how-a-brand-can-get-started-with-placements-in-business-account).
- **Monetization settings**. Learn more in [Activate monetization and see your first revenue](https://begenuin.com/developers/get-started/any-business/activate-monetization).
- **Outbound communications**, the next item under **Publish Brand Community** in the checklist.
- **A final check before launch**. Learn more in [Launch your first community](https://begenuin.com/developers/get-started/any-business/launch-first-community).

## Limitations

- **Subdomains only.** An apex domain such as `yourbrand.com` can't carry a CNAME record. Genuin configures one by request through support@begenuin.com.
- **One production hostname and one QA hostname.** Business Account has no edit or delete control for a saved hostname; to change one, contact support.
- **Validation runs every 4 hours**, so a correct record can take up to 4 hours to go live after you save.
- **One live hostname.** Once the white-label hostname is live, the default domain redirects to it. To switch back, contact support@begenuin.com.
- **No self-serve robots.txt or sitemap settings** for the new domain. Requests go through support.

## See also

- [Point your domain to your hosted social experience](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/can-you-host-your-brand-community-on-your-own-domain-with-a-white-label-setup)
- [Optimize your social experience for search and LLM discovery](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/how-does-genuin-optimize-brand-communities-for-seo-and-llm-discoverability)
- [How content in your social experience is indexed by search engines and AI](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/can-brand-community-content-really-improve-seo-and-llm-discoverability)
- [Embed your social experience on your website](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/can-your-website-become-community-hub-without-building-a-new-platform)
- [Onsite: what it does and where to start](https://begenuin.com/developers/browse-by-products/onsite/onsite-what-it-does-and-where-to-start)