A Beginner's Guide to Signing up for Google Workspace
You’re now ready to set up Gmail as your business email for your domain (and, if you haven’t already, verify your domain).
To do this, you need to sign in to your domain host and direct the email for your domain to the Google Workspace servers. It’s like registering your new address with the post office when you move so that your mail gets delivered to the right place. We’ll walk you through the steps.
Before you begin
- Verify that you own your domain.
Or, you can verify now with an MX record. We’ll show you how while you're setting up the MX records.
- Create user accounts in Google Workspace for your team.
If your team members already use email with your domain (their email address ends with your domain), you have to create their user accounts in Google Workspace before you change any MX record settings. Otherwise, they won't be able to send or receive messages with their business address in Gmail.
Change your MX records
Step 1: Sign in to your domain host
- Leave the Google Admin console setup instructions open.
- Open a new tab or browser window and go to the 1&1 IONOS site.
- Enter your Customer ID and Password that you created when you opened your 1&1 IONOS account.
- Click Login.
If you don’t know your account information, you can reset your password or contact 1&1 IONOS support.
Step 2: Go to your DNS records
- In the Your domain pane, click Manage Domain.
- Open the DNS tab.
Sep 3: Delete existing MX records
- Look for MX records in the DNS records table.
- To the right of an MX record, click the Actions icon.
- Click Delete record.
You’ll add new MX records in the next step.
- Click Delete to confirm that you want to remove this MX record.
- Repeat steps 2–4 for all remaining MX records.
Step 4: Add new MX records
- Above the DNS records table, click Add record.
- Select MX from the list of DNS record options.
- In the Host Name field, enter @.
- Enter smtp.google.com in the Points to field.
- In the Priority field, enter 1.
- In the TTL field, leave the default value.
- Click Save.
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Skip this step if you already verified your domain by another method (such as TXT or CNAME record).
If you need to verify your domain:
- In the Admin console, scroll to the Get your verification code section and click the Copy button.
- Paste the value in the Value/Answer/Destination/Target column.
- Make sure the record's priority is set to Low or to 15 or greater.
Note: If your registrar rejects the verification code, try deleting the period at the end of .com. - In the Admin console, scroll to the Get your verification code section and click the Copy button.
Step 5: Tell Google to find your new MX records
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Return to the browser tab where you have the Google Workspace setup tool open. (You can reopen the tool if you closed it.)
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Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Activate Gmail.
Important! Some registrars may require additional time to publish your MX records. If the Google Workspace setup tool can't find your new records, wait an hour before you try again.
If you need additional help with your DNS settings, please contact your registrar. They are experts in managing your domain and are eager to help you.
Google, Google Workspace, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company and product names are trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.
