Using a Custom Domain

Overview

You can route Growl events through your own domain by creating a CNAME record. This approach can help with:

• Ad blocker bypass: Some ad blockers target third-party tracking domains. Using your own domain can improve event delivery reliability.
• First-party context: Events appear to come from your domain, which can improve data accuracy and reduce browser restrictions.

Note

This is an optional configuration.

Setup Instructions

1. Create a CNAME Record

   Add a CNAME record in your DNS provider pointing to Growl’s platform:

   gr.yourdomain.com  →  cname.withgrowl.com

   Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain. You can use any subdomain you prefer (e.g., growl.yourdomain.com, analytics.yourdomain.com, etc.).

2. Wait for DNS Propagation

   DNS changes can take time to propagate globally. This typically ranges from:

   • A few minutes (with modern DNS providers)
   • Up to 48 hours (in rare cases with older systems)

   Caution

   Do not proceed to the next step until DNS propagation is complete. Using the custom domain before DNS is ready will cause tracking to fail.

3. Verify DNS Propagation

   Before updating your website, verify that your CNAME is working correctly by visiting the health check endpoint:

   https://gr.yourdomain.com/v1/health

   You should receive:

   • HTTP Status: 200 OK
   • Response Body:

     {"status":"ok"}

   If you see an error or timeout, your DNS hasn’t propagated yet. Wait a bit longer and try again.

4. Update Your Growl Script

   Once DNS verification is successful, add the data-growl-api-host attribute to your Growl script tag:

   <script
     type="text/javascript"
     src="https://cdn.withgrowl.com/ads.js"
     data-growl-publisher-id="YOUR_PUBLISHER_ID"
     data-growl-api-host="gr.yourdomain.com"
   ></script>

5. Deploy and Test

   Deploy your updated code and verify that:

   • Ads are loading correctly
   • No console errors appear
   • Network requests are going to your custom domain