How to Set Up a Custom Domain Using a CNAME

When you create a new Privacy Center, a default subdomain is automatically assigned to your Privacy Center. It is usually company_name.truevaultprivacycenter.com. You can optionally set up a custom domain, such as privacy.yourdomain.com. This article walks you through how to point a custom domain at your Privacy Center.

Creating a CNAME

To start, create a CNAME record in your DNS. In most cases, your DNS provider is where you registered your domain name. For example, Hover or GoDaddy. When you create the CNAME record, you'll be prompted to insert a hostname and the URL it points to. Continuing with our example above, in your DNS, create a CNAME Record with the following values*:

  • Alias: <to be provided by your Account Manager>
  • Value: <to be provided by your Account Manager>

Note: Once you save the CNAME, it can take up to 24 hours to propagate and properly point to your Privacy Center, although you could see changes take effect in as little as an hour. If you see any TTL settings when setting up your CNAME, just leave those as is. 

SSL Certification & Domain Verification

An SSL certificate will be generated for your Custom Domain. In order for TrueVault to generate a certificate, the certificate-issuing authority needs to verify the ownership of the domain. To do so, you need to create a second CNAME record with in your DNS.

In your provider’s DNS settings, create another CNAME record with the following values*:

  • Alias: <to be provided by your Account Manager>
  • Value: <to be provided by your Account Manager>

Once you've added both CNAME records, you are all done. It usually takes another 24-48 hours from this point for the custom subdomain to be fully functional.


*If you are using Cloudflare as your DNS provider, be sure to toggle off the "Proxy" feature

How to Set Up a Custom Domain Using a CNAME in Shopify

Adding the TrueVault CNAME record for your Shopify-managed domain:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains
  2. Click your Primary Domain (e.g. <company.com>)
  3. Click Domain Settings > Edit DNS Settings
  4. Click Add Custom Record and then Add CNAME record
  5. Under Name add "privacy" and under Points to:
  6. Click Confirm

See https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/domains/managing-domains/edit-dns-settings for more details

For SSL Verification:

Our standard method for SSL verification is to create a second CNAME with “_” prefix. Shopify, however, does not support CNAMEs that begin with “_”, so we must use email verification instead.


(Your Account Manager will ask which of the following emails you have access to: admin@, administrator@, hostmaster@, postmaster@, or webmaster@)

  1. You will receive an email from Amazon Certificates to one of the above addresses with the subject “Certificate request for <company.com>”.
  2. The email will contain a link to approve the request. Click the link.
    1. Please note that the link expires in 72 hours.
  3. Reply to your onboarding email to let us know that you’ve approved the request.