Guide updated June 12, 2026.
At a glance: you have two options for your Shopify domain name: buy it directly in Shopify (the simplest route, expect $15 to $25 per year, automatic setup) or buy it from an external registrar such as OVH or Gandi and then connect it to your store. Our agency recommendation: the external registrar, so you keep control of your DNS and your professional email. Either way, the process takes less than an hour, and this guide walks through every step, including email and changing domains without breaking your SEO.
Your store has just been created and its address looks like monshop.myshopify.com. It works, but nobody launches a brand on an address like that: your domain name is the first credibility signal your visitors pick up, even before your design. The good news: on Shopify, it is one of the simplest setups in the whole project, as long as you avoid the three or four pitfalls we regularly see in audits. Here is the method we apply to every client store launch.
Contents
Why move away from myshopify.com
Every Shopify store starts out with a technical address in the format monshop.myshopify.com. It remains usable indefinitely, but keeping it as your public address sends a triple bad signal: a perceived lack of professionalism for your customers, a brand that does not own its most basic asset, and ad campaigns that convert less (a branded URL inspires trust in an ad, a technical URL does not).
A useful clarification: the myshopify.com address never disappears completely. It remains your store's technical identifier (admin login, fallback URL), but once your primary domain is set up, your visitors no longer see it: Shopify automatically redirects all traffic to your branded domain. That answers a question we get asked often: you do not delete myshopify.com, you hide it behind your real domain.
Option 1: buy your domain name through Shopify
The fastest route. From the admin: Settings, then Domains, then "Buy new domain". You type the name you want, and Shopify displays the available extensions (.com, .fr, .co, .shop...) with their annual price, generally between $15 and $25 per year depending on the extension. Payment goes through your existing Shopify payment method (billed separately from your subscription), and all the technical setup (DNS, SSL, www redirects) is automatic. Usually within a few minutes, sometimes up to 48 hours, your store is live on your new domain.
The advantages: zero technical work, renewal charged to your existing Shopify payment method, SSL certificate provisioned without any action on your part. The limits: DNS management is deliberately simplified (enough for a store, limiting if your domain has to serve other purposes), and above all, a domain bought from Shopify includes no mailbox, a point we cover in detail below because it surprises everyone.
Option 2: connect an external domain (OVH, Gandi...)
If you already own your domain, or if you prefer to buy it from a French registrar (OVH, Gandi, IONOS...), connecting it to Shopify takes two DNS records. From the Shopify admin: Settings, Domains, "Connect existing domain". Shopify then shows you the two exact values to enter at your registrar: an A record for the root domain, and a CNAME record for the www subdomain. Always use the values displayed in your admin rather than an external tutorial, they are the reference.
At your registrar (in your domain's DNS zone), you replace the existing records with the ones provided, save, then go back to Shopify and click "Verify connection". DNS propagation takes anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, usually less than an hour. Shopify then automatically provisions the SSL certificate. The last step, often forgotten: set this domain as your primary domain, so that all variants (myshopify.com, www or root) redirect cleanly to a single canonical address. This matters for your SEO: only one version of your site should exist in Google's eyes.
To decide between the two options at a glance:
| Criterion | Buying through Shopify | External registrar (OVH, Gandi...) |
|---|---|---|
| Annual price | $15 to $25 | €7 to €20 depending on the extension |
| Setup | Automatic | 2 DNS records to enter |
| DNS management | Simplified, limited | Full (MX, SPF, subdomains...) |
| Mailboxes | No (forwarding only) | Often available as an option |
| Portability | Domain tied to your Shopify account | Asset independent of the platform |
| Best for | Fast launch, non-technical profile | Our recommendation for brands that are getting structured |
Our agency recommendation
On our client projects, we recommend option 2: buy the domain from an external registrar and connect it to Shopify. Three reasons from the field. First, portability: your domain is your most durable asset, and it should live in an account that belongs to you, independently of your e-commerce platform. Second, full DNS control: professional email, subdomains, third-party tools (Google verifications, Klaviyo, tracking), everything goes through the DNS zone, and a standard registrar gives you all the latitude you need. Finally, cost: for the same extension, the registrar is often slightly cheaper, and mailboxes are available there as a simple add-on. On this point, compare before you buy: prices vary significantly from one platform to another (Gandi, GoDaddy, OVH...), and above all, beware of first-year introductory prices, it is the renewal price that counts over time.
And the recurring mistake we fix in audits: a domain registered in the name of the provider who built the site, or on the personal account of a former partner. Whichever way you buy it, the domain must be registered in your company's name, on an account you hold the credentials for. We have seen brands lose weeks recovering their own domain at the worst possible moment. This ownership reflex applies to the whole project, by the way: our guide to creating a Shopify online store details the other assets to lock down from day one.
One last reflex we apply on our projects: secure a bundle of variations of your domain name at the time of purchase. At a minimum the .com and the .fr, plus the obvious variants (with and without a hyphen, common typos if your brand lends itself to them). A few dozen euros a year that prevent a competitor, an opportunistic reseller or a counterfeit site from setting up shop on a variant of your brand. The variants then 301-redirect to your primary domain.
Professional email: the classic trap
The point that surprises everyone, every time: Shopify does not provide mailboxes. Buying your domain through Shopify does not give you a contact@yourbrand.com address, only the ability to set up email forwarding (messages sent to contact@yourbrand.com are forwarded to your Gmail, but you reply from your personal address, which is not very professional).
For real mailboxes on your domain, you need a dedicated service: Google Workspace (the solution we deploy most often), Microsoft 365, or the mailboxes included with some registrars such as OVH. Setup requires a few additional DNS records (MX for receiving, SPF and DKIM for authentication). Those last two are not optional: without properly configured SPF and DKIM, your marketing emails end up in spam. We cover this in the deliverability section of our Klaviyo and Shopify guide.
Domain name and trademark registration: two separate processes
Owning yourbrand.com gives you no rights to the trademark "Yourbrand", and vice versa. They are two different, complementary protections: the domain name reserves an address on the internet, while trademark registration (with the INPI in France) legally protects your name and logo in your classes of activity. A registered trademark can even assert its rights against a domain name registered in bad faith, and conversely, a domain alone will not protect you if a third party registers the trademark before you.
Our advice from the field: run both processes in parallel, before launch. A prior-rights search in the INPI database while you are brainstorming your name avoids the worst situation we have seen: renaming a brand after launch, with a redesign of the site, the domain and every piece of collateral. INPI registration costs about €200 for one class, and it is one of the best insurance policies for your project.
Do keywords in the domain help SEO?
The question comes up on every project: should you put your keywords in the domain name (lit-cabane-monsite.com) or stick to the brand name alone? The SEO literature has long been clear: keywords in the domain provide no direct ranking boost. Google has confirmed this several times through John Mueller, and the 2012 "Exact Match Domain" update was rolled out precisely to neutralize low-quality keyword domains. The remaining benefits are indirect: a descriptive domain can improve click-through rate on some queries and naturally generate keyword-rich anchor text.
Our experience confirms it. For our own brand Cabania, we deliberately put keywords in the domain (lit-cabane-cabania.com) at a time when there was still some doubt. The verdict after several years of operation: we have never been able to measure the slightest impact attributable to the domain itself; content, internal linking and backlinks are what drive rankings. Our recommendation today: choose your domain for your brand (short, memorable, no hyphen if possible), not for Google. If the keyword fits naturally, great; never sacrifice the quality of the name for it.
Changing your domain name without breaking your SEO
Your brand evolves, you change your name, or you move from a .fr to a .com: changing your primary domain on Shopify is technically simple (connect the new domain, set it as primary), but the SEO side calls for rigor. Good news: when the old and new domains are both connected to the same Shopify store, the platform automatically redirects the old one to the new one, page by page.
The checklist to follow: keep the old domain active (and renewed!) for at least 12 months to maintain the redirects, declare the change of address in Google Search Console, update the URLs in your tools (Klaviyo, ads, social media, email signatures), and monitor your rankings for 4 to 6 weeks. A well-executed domain change costs a few days of fluctuation in Google; a sloppy one costs several months of traffic.
Subdomains: when and how to use them
A subdomain (boutique-pro.yourbrand.com, en.yourbrand.com) is set up with a simple CNAME at your registrar and can point to a second Shopify store. The legitimate use cases: a B2B store separate from your consumer site, or an international market run on a separate store. For most internationalization cases, however, Shopify Markets makes separate stores unnecessary: currencies, languages and taxes are managed from a single store, on a single domain. Before multiplying subdomains and stores, check that your need cannot be handled natively.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a domain name cost on Shopify?
Between $15 and $25 per year for most extensions (.com, .fr, .shop) bought directly through Shopify. With an external registrar such as OVH or Gandi, expect generally €7 to €20 per year depending on the extension. In both cases, it is an annual renewal you should never let expire.
How do I remove myshopify.com from my store's address?
You do not delete it, you hide it: buy or connect your own domain, then set it as your primary domain in Settings, then Domains. All visits to the myshopify.com address will automatically be redirected to your branded domain.
Can I use an OVH or Gandi domain with Shopify?
Yes, it is actually our recommendation. You simply enter two DNS records (an A record and a CNAME, with values provided in your Shopify admin) in your registrar's DNS zone, then verify the connection from Shopify. Expect less than an hour, propagation included in most cases.
Does Shopify provide email addresses with the domain?
No. Shopify only offers forwarding of incoming email. For real professional mailboxes (sending and receiving from contact@yourbrand.com), you need a service such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or your registrar's mailboxes, configured through the MX records in your DNS zone.
Does putting keywords in your domain name improve SEO?
No, not directly: Google has confirmed several times that keywords in the domain provide no ranking boost. We verified this on our own brand Cabania (lit-cabane-cabania.com): no measurable impact attributable to the domain. Choose your domain for the brand, not for Google.
Can you change your domain name after launch?
Yes. Connect the new domain and set it as primary: Shopify automatically redirects the old one to the new one page by page, as long as both remain connected to the store. Keep the old domain active for at least 12 months and declare the change in Google Search Console to protect your SEO.
