A business can have multiple brands within it, and each brand can very well have its own domain to boost brand presence and connect with its customers. Managing multiple domains within a collaboration suite is sometimes confusing and challenging. If you are reading this article, you are probably using Google Workspace or planning to make a switch. Well, you wouldn’t regret it as it’s undoubtedly the best collaboration platform for any business.

Even if a business has one domain, sometimes it changes due to rebranding or more get added due to acquisitions or because the business operates in different countries etc. If you already have different brands, you must be wondering how to manage their domains easily. This article will cover all about managing multiple domains in Google Workspace. Before we go into the details, you should understand the types of domains that can be added. Domain types in Google Workspace are secondary domains and domain aliases. A secondary domain is a completely distinct or separate domain that has its own configuration and can have its own set of users. A domain alias is just a nickname for your primary domain. Domain alias can be useful in rebranding when you still want to receive emails and communication redirected to your old domain.

Domain aliases can also be used if you want to maintain separate brands but just 1 email storage as it will ultimately save your licenses too. In fact, the user aliases get automatically added if there’s a domain alias. Groups in the primary domain also get an alias automatically. Secondary domains can also be used as aliases and explicitly added to users after you add them to the console. Secondary domains can also have their own mailboxes, and you can maintain them separately.

A separate module inside the admin console under “Domains” shows you the primary and secondary domains list. To add any domain, you will need to verify the ownership of the domain by adding a TXT verification record to the domain’s DNS. You should have access to the DNS settings of the domain. You can usually see that by logging into the console provided by your domain registrar. There’s an important limit on the number of domains that you should remember. You can add 1 primary domain and up to 599 max number of secondary domains. The limit is quite high, and there’s a slim chance of you needing to cross it. The maximum number of allowed domain aliases is 20, and the number of user aliases is 30. So, a user can have a maximum of 600 aliases.

How to add multiple domains in Google Workspace:

1. Sign in to Google Workspace Admin Console(admin.google.com)using an admin account.
2. Go to Domains > Manage Domains.
3. Click on “Add a domain”.
4. Type the domain name you want to add and click on “Add”.
5. Select a domain type: Secondary domain / Domain Alias. From our discussions above, you should be able to know what type of domain you need to add depending on your use case.
6. Click on “Add and start verification”. Follow the instructions to verify domain ownership.
7. Depending on the registrar, the instructions for domain verifications and options might differ. Ultimately, you need to add a TXT record to the domain’s DNS records.
8. Return to the “Manage domains” option, find the domain you need to activate after adding the DNS record and click on “Activate”.
9. If you added the DNS record correctly, your domain will be activated, and you can start using it.
10. The next steps would be adding user accounts and groups or using aliases as per the requirement.
11. Additionally, after adding the domain, make sure to add the MX records before you want to have an email flow on them.

Use cases for the need of multiple domains:

Some of the examples of cases where you might need to manage multiple domains are:

1. Provision of email addresses on the secondary domains if required.
2. Manage a set of domains on Google Workspace for subsidiary companies if it’s a group of companies.
3. Manage external consultants and vendors if required.
4. Manage business units and assign separate domains if they need.
5. Branding requirements of the company for using different email addresses.

Google Workspace Limitations for multiple domains:

There are certain limitations within Google Workspace for multiple domains too:

1. Setting different policies for different domains is not possible. You can plan to put users of different domains into separate OUs and then create the rules on those OUs.
2. You can’t restrict Google drive sharing based on domains, only on OUs.
3. Different logos can’t be set for users in different domains. The same logo is set for all users in the organization.
4. Domain aliases cant be converted into multi-domain accounts.

Dealing with multiple domains can be difficult, and strategizing correctly is extremely crucial right from the start. We at Cloudasta provide managed services for Google Workspace support and can help you make the right decision. We provide security and policy audits to many organizations on their Google Workspace tenant. We have experts who can help with the setup and audits, suggesting best practices and guiding you to harness the best out of Google Workspace. Even if you are using a different collaboration platform and would like to move to Google Workspace, we can make it as smooth as possible. As part of our managed migration services, we also do data migrations for many customers.

Cloudasta has been a Google Cloud partner since 2013 and has helped hundreds of customers transition and use Google Workspace effectively. You can always focus on your core business while we handle the background processes and ensure they are done effectively. Our recommendation has always been to start using Google Workspace to foster collaboration and effective communication in the organization. Feel free to get in touch with us to start right away.

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