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Use your own domain for your directory

Put your partner directory on your own subdomain (custom domain, CNAME) or on a path like yourdomain.com/partners with a reverse proxy.

Written by Ali Winberry

Every PartnerPage directory has an address on partnerpage.io. In Customizations > URLs you can serve your directory on your own domain instead: on a subdomain such as partners.yourdomain.com (the DNS method) or on a path of your website such as yourdomain.com/partners (the Reverse proxy method). This article is for vendors who run a directory.

Who can do this: Admin role · Availability: all directories

Your directory's PartnerPage address

Each directory gets a PartnerPage address such as acme.partnerpage.io, based on your organization's name when the directory is created. If that name is already taken, PartnerPage adds a number, such as acme-2.partnerpage.io. To change the partnerpage.io address itself, contact PartnerPage support.

DNS or reverse proxy: which to choose

The following table compares the two setup methods on the URLs page.

DNS

Reverse proxy

Your directory's address

A subdomain, such as partners.yourdomain.com

A path on your site, such as yourdomain.com/partners

What your team sets up

One CNAME record at your DNS provider

A rule in your CDN or web server that forwards the path to PartnerPage

HTTPS certificate

Created by PartnerPage automatically

Handled by your own CDN or server

Best for

Most customers; the URLs page marks it as recommended

Keeping the directory under your main domain

Set up a custom domain with DNS (CNAME)

To put your directory on a subdomain such as partners.yourdomain.com:

  1. At your DNS provider (for example GoDaddy, Namecheap or Cloudflare), create a CNAME record for the subdomain you want, such as partners, with the value (target) proxy.partnerpage.io.

  2. Wait for the record to propagate. It usually takes a few minutes; dnschecker.org shows when it is live.

  3. In your directory, go to Customizations > URLs.

  4. Under 1. Choose your setup method, click DNS.

  5. Under 5. Set your custom URL, enter the subdomain, such as partners.yourdomain.com, without https://.

  6. Click Save.

The Custom Domain Status banner at the top of the URLs page shows "Your custom domain is being set up" while PartnerPage connects the domain, then "Your custom domain is active and working correctly." PartnerPage creates the HTTPS certificate for you, so there is nothing to send to support.

Set up a path with a reverse proxy

To put your directory on a path of your main website, such as yourdomain.com/partners:

  1. In your directory, go to Customizations > URLs.

  2. Under 1. Choose your setup method, click Reverse proxy.

  3. Under 2. Locate your CDN configuration guide, copy your directory's PartnerPage address. Your proxy forwards requests to this address.

  4. Set up the proxy rule with the guide for your platform: Vercel, Amazon CloudFront, NGINX, Cloudflare Workers or Netlify.

  5. Make sure the proxy sends the PartnerPage-Client-IP, PartnerPage-Reverse-Proxy and Host headers, and forwards the full path and query string of every request.

  6. Under 5. Set your custom URL, enter the domain and path your proxy serves, such as yourdomain.com/partners.

  7. Click Save.

Open yourdomain.com/partners in your browser to check that the directory loads.

Stop using a custom domain

To remove a custom domain from your directory:

  1. In Customizations > URLs, click Delete custom URL.

  2. Click Delete custom URL again to confirm.

Your directory goes back to its partnerpage.io address. Remove the CNAME record or the proxy rule on your side too.

Move a custom domain to another of your directories

A custom domain serves one directory at a time. To move a custom domain such as partners.yourdomain.com to another of your directories, click Delete custom URL on the URLs page of the directory that has it, then save the domain on the URLs page of the other directory.

Troubleshooting

"This domain is already used by your directory ..."

This message on the URLs page means another of your directories uses the domain. Click Delete custom URL in that directory first, then save the domain again.

"This domain is already connected to another PartnerPage directory"

This message means a directory outside your organization uses the domain. If you own the domain, contact PartnerPage support.

"PartnerPage domains can't be used as a custom URL"

Addresses ending in partnerpage.io can't be a custom URL. Enter a domain your company owns.

"Enter only a domain, like partners.yourdomain.com"

For the DNS method, the custom URL is the subdomain alone: no https://, no path and no spaces.

The Custom Domain Status banner shows an error

When the Custom Domain Status banner says "There was an issue setting up your custom domain", check the CNAME record first: it must exist for the exact subdomain you saved and point to proxy.partnerpage.io. Fix the record, wait for it to propagate, and save the URLs page again. If the error stays, contact PartnerPage support.

The directory shows "500" and "Invalid reverse proxy setup"

A reverse proxy setup error shows "500" on the directory page with one of two messages:

  • Invalid reverse proxy setup: Missing header means the proxy doesn't send the PartnerPage-Reverse-Proxy header. Add it to your proxy rule.

  • Invalid reverse proxy setup: Public URL does not match current URL means the address in the browser doesn't match the custom URL saved on the URLs page. Check the path, for example /partners versus /partner, and save the URL your proxy actually serves.

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