Setup a Web Content CNAME

Web Content CNAMEs are used to brand links to web content records (Forms, Surveys, Landing Pages, and Subscription Management Pages). Form, Survey, and Subscription Page submissions will be properly recorded in CRM even if there is not a web content CNAME set up, but without the Web Content CNAME, the page views for these records may not correctly associate with the lead or contact visiting your site since the domain of the web content URL is a different domain than the one used in the ClickDimensions tracking script on your website.

NOTE: When using Web Content CNAMEs, the Web Content URL will be http rather than https. If you want your Web Content URL to be https, you will need to use the default link format rather than a CNAME. To do this, you can either associate a Domain record that does not include a Web Content CNAME value with the Web Content record, or you can manually modify the link. For example,  http://web.mycompany.com/exampleformlink  would be manually updated to  https://analytics.clickdimensions.com/exampleformlink 

Goals

• Determine what your Web Content CNAME should point to
• Set up your Web Content CNAME in your DNS Host
• Add your Web Content CNAME to CRM

What should your Web Content CNAME point to?

In order for your links to work properly once a CNAME has been applied to them, the CNAME you set up in your DNS host will need to be configured to point to a specific value. This can vary depending on where your account is deployed (which data center was chosen during deploying the ClickDimensions solution), so you'll need to check to see what the default value is.

Create your Web Content CNAME

Go to your hosting service's DNS manager and create a new CNAME entry to redirect the Web Content CNAME value you would like in your embedded content links (e.g. web.mycompany.com) to the appropriate value for your data center as listed in the previous table.

Here's an example of adding the CNAMEs for a domain whose DNS is hosted by GoDaddy:

Create your Domain Record

Unlike the Email CNAME, which is added to CRM under DNS Settings within ClickDimensions Settings, Web Content CNAMEs are added to the Domain record that you created for web tracking.

Wait 60 minutes and then go to the ClickDimensions settings in your Microsoft CRM settings area and insert the new CNAME into the Web Content CNAME field of the corresponding Domain Record.

NOTE: The Domain field should contain an actual domain name value, and should not have http:// or 'www' in it. It should just be a domain, like mycompany.com.

To be sure your Web Content CNAME is working, you can click the Test Alias button on the ribbon.

If everything looks good, you'll receive this message in return:

If you get an error Unable to connect, make sure the value you entered in the Web Content CNAME field actually resolves to analytics.clickdimensions.com (or analytics-eu.clickdimensions.com if you are using our EU data center, or analytics-au.clickdimensions.com if you are using our Australia data center). Click here to see how to use your computer's command prompt to check this.

NOTE: If you have an internal DNS server on your network, your network administrator will need to also create CNAME entries for your internal network if you want these links to work for your users. (The branded links are intended for recipients, but if you plan on testing links in emails and forms, you will need to be able to reach these addresses inside your network too.)