Domain, Theme & SEO
Your hosted website's site‑wide settings — custom domain, theme and branding, analytics, and SEO metadata — live in the dashboard under Settings → Website. This page covers everything on those tabs. For building and editing the pages themselves, see Pages and The Page Editor; for the bigger picture of the hosted website, start at the Website Overview.
Note: The hosted website (and therefore these settings) is a Commerce plan or higher feature. On the Free plan there is no hosted website, and the Settings → Website screens redirect back to the dashboard. See Subscriptions & Plans and The Free Plan.
Where your site lives
Your site is always reachable at its default address:
https://embed.timbercloud.com/site/your-slug(your-slug is your company slug.) Connecting a custom domain adds a second, branded address — it does not replace the default one, which keeps working.
At the top of Settings → Website you'll find a Publish / Unpublish toggle and a Preview Site button:
- Publish / Unpublish — flips your site live or offline. When the toggle shows Published, visitors can reach your site; Unpublished takes it offline.
- Preview Site — opens your live (or in‑progress) site in a new tab so you can see exactly what visitors see.
Tip: Individual pages also have their own draft/published state in the editor. Publishing your first page turns the site on automatically. See Navigation & Publishing for the page‑level workflow.
The five settings tabs
Settings → Website is organized into five tabs:
| Tab | What it controls |
|---|---|
| General | Theme, brand colors, fonts, hero/nav/footer styling, button style, storefront UI mode, CTA text, social links |
| Content | AI generation, sections, featured products, gallery, and testimonials for the legacy single‑page layout |
| Domain | Connect and verify a custom domain (automatic SSL) |
| Analytics | Google Analytics 4 Measurement ID |
| Metadata | Site tagline, description, and SEO settings |
The rest of this page walks through the General, Domain, Analytics, and Metadata tabs.
Connect a custom domain
A custom domain lets your hosted site live at your own address (for example shop.yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.com) instead of the default embed.timbercloud.com/site/... URL. SSL (the padlock / https://) is issued automatically.
Note: Custom domains require the Commerce plan or higher. On Free, the option is blocked with an upgrade prompt.
Step 1 — Enter your domain
- Go to Settings → Website → Domain.
- In the Domain name field, type your domain without
http://,https://, orwww.— for exampleyourbusiness.com. - Click Connect Domain.
TimberCloud validates the format and saves the domain. The status changes to Pending DNS Configuration, and a table of DNS records appears for you to copy.
Step 2 — Add the DNS records at your registrar
TimberCloud shows the exact DNS records you need to add. Each row has a Type, Name, and Value. Add these at whoever manages your domain's DNS — your registrar or DNS host (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.).
- Use the copy icon on any row to copy that record's value, or Copy All to grab every record at once.
- Add them exactly as shown, leaving any existing unrelated records in place.
Tip: Not sure where to add DNS records? Look for a "DNS", "DNS Management", "Nameservers", or "Advanced DNS" area in your registrar's control panel. If you use Cloudflare, add the records there.
Step 3 — Verify
After adding the records, return to Settings → Website → Domain and click Verify DNS.
- TimberCloud also auto‑checks roughly every 10 minutes, so you don't have to keep clicking — but Verify DNS runs the check on demand.
- DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours worldwide, though it's usually done in 5–30 minutes.
- The page polls for status updates automatically while a domain is pending, so you can leave it open.
When DNS resolves correctly, the status flips to Active, SSL is issued automatically, and your site goes live at https://yourdomain.com.
Domain status reference
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No domain configured | No custom domain is connected yet. |
| Pending DNS Configuration | The domain is saved; add the shown DNS records at your registrar, then verify. |
| Verifying… | DNS records were detected and the domain is being checked / SSL is being provisioned. |
| Active | The domain is verified, SSL is issued, and your site is live on it. |
| Error | Something went wrong (e.g. records not found or misconfigured); the screen explains what to fix. |
Removing a domain
To disconnect a custom domain, open Settings → Website → Domain, click Remove, and confirm. This is non‑destructive: your website stays reachable at its default embed.timbercloud.com/site/your-slug URL, and you can connect a new domain anytime.
Theme & branding (General tab)
The General tab is where you set your site's overall look. Changes here apply across your whole site and your embeddable storefront. Click Save at the bottom to apply.
Pick a theme
Choose one of five visual styles. Selecting a theme applies a coordinated starting set of colors, fonts, and button shape, which you can then fine‑tune:
| Theme | Feel |
|---|---|
| Minimal | Clean lines, white space, modern feel |
| Bold | Strong typography, high contrast |
| Classic | Timeless, elegant, traditional |
| Craft | Warm tones, handmade aesthetic |
| Industrial | Raw, rugged, workshop vibes |
Storefront UI mode (light / dark)
Set Storefront UI Mode to Light or Dark. This controls the look of cards, modals, and form fields in your storefront chrome (white cards with dark text vs. dark cards with light text). Your hero, nav, and footer colors are set separately (below).
Important: This UI mode is the only thing that switches your storefront between light and dark. The
data-themeattribute on the embeddable storefront script does not change the theme — see Embed Setup and Customization.
Colors
- Primary and Secondary brand colors — used for buttons, accents, and highlights across your site.
- Navigation Bar background color — with the text color automatically chosen for legibility.
- Hero Section background — a solid color or a gradient (start color, end color, and direction), with an opacity slider and an optional color overlay (vignette) for hero images. Text color adapts automatically.
- Footer background color — again with auto‑legible text.
Each picker shows a live preview, and you can type an exact hex value or use the color swatch.
Typography
Pick a body Font Family. Each theme also uses its own coordinated heading font. Available fonts:
- Inter
- Playfair Display
- Roboto
- Merriweather
- Montserrat
Buttons & calls to action
- Primary CTA Text and Secondary CTA Text — the default labels on your hero call‑to‑action buttons (e.g. "Shop Now" / "Learn More").
- Button Style — choose Rounded, Pill, Sharp, or Square, or leave it unset to use the theme default. Click a selected style again to deselect.
Social links
Add the URLs for your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter / X, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok profiles. Any you fill in appear as icons on your site.
Tip: Your colors and fonts are white‑label and per‑company — they're independent of TimberCloud's own branding. You can also let AI propose a coordinated palette and font when it generates your site; see AI Website Assistant.
Google Analytics (Analytics tab)
To measure traffic to your hosted website with Google Analytics 4:
- Go to Settings → Website → Analytics.
- Enter your Measurement ID in the format
G-XXXXXXXXXX. - Click Save.
Once a valid Measurement ID is saved, the GA4 tracking script is loaded automatically on every page of your hosted website, capturing page views, visitor counts, traffic sources, device types, geography, and engagement.
- Find your Measurement ID in Google Analytics under Admin → Data Streams → your stream. It starts with
G-. - Analytics only load on your hosted website — they never track your dashboard or anyone else's site.
- To stop tracking, clear the Measurement ID and save.
SEO metadata (Metadata tab)
The Metadata tab holds your site‑wide SEO basics:
- Tagline — a short phrase describing your business, used in your site's title/branding.
- Description — the summary text search engines and social previews show for your site.
Fill these in so search engines and link previews represent your business well. For per‑page SEO (page‑level title and description), use the Generate options in the page editor's Inspector — see The Page Editor and AI Website Assistant, which can draft an SEO title (≤60 characters) and description for you.
Putting it together
A typical first‑time setup looks like this:
- General — pick a theme, set your brand colors and font, and choose a button style.
- Metadata — add your tagline and description.
- Analytics — (optional) paste your GA4 Measurement ID.
- Domain — (optional) connect your custom domain and add the DNS records.
- Use the Publish toggle and Preview Site to take your site live and check it.
Related pages
- Website Overview — what the hosted website is and who gets it
- Pages — create and manage the pages of your site
- The Page Editor — block editing, the Inspector, and shortcuts
- Navigation & Publishing — drafts, publishing, navigation, and redirects
- AI Website Assistant — generate copy, SEO, and a full starter site
- Embeddable Storefront — the alternative to a full hosted website (drop the catalog onto an existing site)