Troubleshooting Google Workspace domain verification

Steps to resolve common errors that occur when authenticating your Google Workspace domain.

Last updated January 27, 2025

While signing up for Google Workspace (previously G Suite), you’ll need to verify your domain ownership. This ensures no one else can use your domain with Google Workspace.

If you’re having trouble verifying your Google Workspace domain, messages about verifying your domain will appear when you:

Follow the steps in this guide if the error message or banner appear in Squarespace or the Google Workspace Admin console.

Step 1 - Take the first steps to verify your domain

Before trying our troubleshooting steps below, ensure you've taken these steps:

  1. Find your temporary password for Google Workspace and log in to your account. After you sign up for Google Workspace, we’ll send you a welcome email that has your temporary password. If you don’t find the email in your inbox, re-send your welcome email.
  2. Accept Google’s terms of service. It’s not possible to verify your domain before accepting Google’s terms.
  3. Verify your Google Workspace domain in the Google Workspace Admin console.

Step 2 - Unblock your domain or proceed to the next section

If you have a Squarespace website

If you have a Squarespace website and Google still shows your domain isn’t verified, follow these steps to unblock your domain:

If you don't have a Squarespace website

If you don't have a Squarespace website and Google still shows your domain isn't verified, retry the domain verification in Squarespace before proceeding to step four, verifying your domain with a TXT record.

Step 3 - Retry domain verification

To try domain verification again:

  1. Open the Google Workspace panel.
  2. Under Google couldn’t verify domain, click Try Again.
  3. Refresh your browser. If the Try Again button disappears after refresh, then you successfully verified your domain. If the button reappears, your domain isn’t verified yet. 

After the Google couldn’t verify your domain message disappears from the Google Workspace panel, you should be able to access your Google Workspace account.

Google cannot verify your domain

Step 4 - Add a TXT record if retrying fails

If Try Again continues to appear in your Google Workspace panel after refreshing, try verifying your primary domain with a TXT verification record. If you're verifying a secondary domain, follow the steps below.

Your TXT verification record begins with google-site-verification= followed by a series of numbers and letters.

If you have a Squarespace Domain:

  1. Open a private or incognito tab and log into your Google Workspace admin console.
  2. Follow Step 1 in Google's documentation to get your unique verification record.
  3. In another tab, open your domains dashboard.
  4. Click your domain name, then click DNS.
  5. Click the Add Preset drop-down and select Google Workspace verification.
  6. Paste your TXT record in the Verification code field.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Return to your Google Workspace Admin console and click Verify. It may take 10 minutes to an hour for Google to identify the newly added TXT record.

Tip

If you can't add DNS records, try the steps above again using an incognito window.

If you have a third-party domain, follow Google’s documentation or visit their provider-specific TXT record guides to add the TXT record in your domain host's DNS settings.

To learn more about presets and editing your DNS settings, visit Accessing your Squarespace Domain's DNS settings.

Verifying secondary Google Workspace domains

To verify a secondary Google Workspace domain, add two MX records to the domain instead of a TXT record.

  1. To find the required MX records, open your Google Workspace Admin Console, go to the domains panel, then click Verify domain
  2. In Squarespace, add the MX records to your domain.

It may take 72 hours for the changes to your DNS settings to take effect.

Note

Don't use the Google Workspace verification preset option in your DNS settings panel. That option only works for primary domains.

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Troubleshooting Google Workspace domain verification