Domain troubleshooting
What to check when a custom domain is stuck on pending, shows a security warning, will not load, or your email stopped after a DNS change.
On this page
Start every domain problem the same way: ask Willo in chat, "check my domain". It reads the domain's current state (pending DNS, verifying, setting up HTTPS, live, or failed) and, when it can tell, the reason. It can also recheck the records and the certificate directly, skipping the cached status. Both checks are read-only, so ask as often as you like.
Stuck on "pending"
- It has been less than a few hours. DNS can take up to 48 hours to spread. Waiting is usually the fix.
- The Host field holds the full name. If you typed
www.example.comin the Host or Name field, most registrars turn it intowww.example.com.example.com. Change it towww(or@for the root). See DNS records for your domain. - The value differs from the dashboard. Compare each record at your registrar with Settings → Custom Domain, character by character. Values copied from anywhere else are a common cause.
- There is a second, older record for the same name. An old A record or CNAME for
wwwor the root, left alongside the new one, can send visitors to your old host. Edit the old record rather than adding next to it. - The domain is mistyped in Willo. Read the domain on the dashboard against the one you own. If it is wrong, ask Willo to replace it: see Change or replace your domain.
"Domain is already in use"
If Willo says another site holds the domain, it has to be released where that site lives: in that business's Settings → Custom Domain if it is another Willo business, or on the platform that hosts it otherwise, for example by removing it from your old website builder. Changing records at your registrar does not release it.
"Not secure" or a certificate warning
HTTPS is set up after Willo sees your DNS records, so a warning in the first hour or so after verification is normal. If it persists after the dashboard says live, ask Willo to recheck the domain. It probes the live certificate and reports what it found.
The site does not load right after the domain went live
For up to about an hour after a domain first goes live, visitors can see a temporary holding page from the network in front of your site, and the preview panel in the dashboard can break the same way. It clears on its own. Your bywillo.ai address keeps working meanwhile.
A preview problem that starts just after a domain change is almost always this temporary page, not your site.
Email stopped after a DNS change
A DNS change removed or overwrote a record that carried your email: MX, SPF, DKIM or DMARC.
- Restore the missing records from the zone backup you took before the change.
- With no backup, get the values from your mail provider's own setup page. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both publish the exact records for your domain.
Willo cannot see your previous records or rebuild them, so don't use values from memory or from another domain. If you are stuck, contact support from the ? menu in the dashboard.
Search results still show bywillo.ai
The official address switches to your domain only after it verifies and HTTPS is live, then on the next build. If it still shows bywillo.ai after that, ask Willo to check the published tags and republish. See Your site's official address. Search engines then take days to weeks to update their results.
Still stuck
Contact support from Help (the ? at the bottom of the left rail), or email support@willo.ai. Include the domain and what Willo's domain check reported.