What happens when you move a domain from SiteGround to Vercel

Moving a domain from SiteGround to Vercel means changing where your domain's nameservers point — the servers that tell the internet where to find your website. You keep the domain registered at SiteGround (or move it elsewhere), but you tell it to use Vercel's nameservers instead. This takes your site offline for a few hours to a few days while the change spreads across the internet, so timing matters.

The process itself is straightforward: you update four nameserver addresses in your SiteGround account, then wait for the change to take effect. Vercel provides the exact nameserver addresses you need. The hardest part is usually not the technical steps — it's understanding that you're not moving the domain itself, just redirecting it.

Key Takeaways

  • You update nameservers in SiteGround's domain settings, not in Vercel, and Vercel tells you exactly which four addresses to enter.
  • Your site will be unreachable for several hours to 48 hours while nameservers update across the internet — plan this during low-traffic times.
  • Before you change anything, add your domain to a Vercel project and confirm Vercel shows it as ready to receive traffic.
  • DNS records for email, subdomains, or other services may break during the switch if you don't move them to Vercel's DNS first.
  • If something goes wrong, you can revert to SiteGround's nameservers within minutes, though the revert also takes time to spread.

Prepare your Vercel project before touching SiteGround

Log into your Vercel account and open the project you want to connect to your domain. Go to Settings, then Domains. Enter your domain name and click Add. Vercel will show you a status — it should say something like "Nameservers" with a list of four addresses below it. Write these down or take a screenshot. Do not proceed until Vercel shows you these nameservers.

If Vercel shows an error or says the domain is already in use, stop here. This usually means the domain is registered to someone else's account, or there's a conflict with another service. Contact Vercel support with your domain name before you touch anything in SiteGround.

Also check whether you have email, subdomains, or other services running on this domain through SiteGround. If you do, you'll need to migrate those DNS records to Vercel's DNS system after the nameserver change, or they'll stop working. Vercel has a DNS section in the same Settings area where you can add these records manually.

Log into SiteGround and locate your domain settings

Go to your SiteGround account and find the domain management section. In most SiteGround accounts, this is under Domains in the main menu, or sometimes under My Accounts if you have multiple services. Click on the domain you're moving.

Look for a section called Nameservers, DNS, or Domain Settings. SiteGround usually shows your current nameservers on this page — they'll be SiteGround's addresses. You need to change these to Vercel's addresses. The exact location varies depending on whether you registered the domain at SiteGround or just pointed it there, so if you can't find it, search SiteGround's help for "change nameservers" and your domain name.

Replace SiteGround's nameservers with Vercel's

In SiteGround's domain settings, find the field for nameservers. You should see four nameserver addresses currently listed. Delete all of them and enter the four nameserver addresses that Vercel gave you. Vercel's nameservers typically look like ns1.vercel.com, ns2.vercel.com, ns3.vercel.com, and ns4.vercel.com, but always use the exact addresses Vercel shows you in your project settings — they can vary by account.

After you enter all four, save the changes. SiteGround will ask you to confirm. Once you confirm, the change is live, and your domain will start pointing to Vercel's servers. This is the moment your site goes offline for most visitors.

Do not close your browser or log out yet. Stay in SiteGround for a few minutes to make sure the change saved without errors. If SiteGround shows an error, undo the change and try again, or contact SiteGround support.

Wait for the nameserver change to spread

After you change the nameservers, the internet needs time to recognize the change. This process is called propagation. For most visitors, your site will be live within 2 to 6 hours. Some parts of the internet may take up to 48 hours. During this time, some people will see your old SiteGround site, some will see your new Vercel site, and some will see nothing.

You can check the status by going to a DNS checker tool like MXToolbox or What's My DNS and entering your domain name. These tools query nameservers around the world and show you how many have updated to Vercel's addresses. When all or most show Vercel's nameservers, your domain is fully switched.

If your site still doesn't load after 48 hours, log back into Vercel and check that your domain shows as "Active" or "Connected" in your project settings. If it shows an error, you may need to contact Vercel support. If it shows as active but the site still doesn't load, the issue is usually with your Vercel project itself, not the domain move.

Move DNS records if you have email or subdomains

If you were using SiteGround to handle email (like info@yourdomain.com) or subdomains (like blog.yourdomain.com), those services will stop working once you switch nameservers, because they're tied to SiteGround's DNS records. You need to recreate them in Vercel's DNS system.

In Vercel, go to your project Settings, then Domains, then click on your domain name. You should see a DNS Records section. Here you can add records for email (MX records), subdomains (CNAME or A records), or other services. If you don't know what records you need, log back into SiteGround and write down all the DNS records listed there — then recreate them in Vercel with the same names and values.

This step is easy to forget and causes the most confusion. If email stops working after the move, this is almost always why. Add the records before you change nameservers if possible, or immediately after if you've already switched.

Troubleshoot if your site doesn't appear

If your domain points to Vercel but your site doesn't load, check these things in order. First, go to your Vercel project and make sure a deployment is marked as "Production" — if no deployment is live, there's nothing for the domain to point to. Second, check that your Vercel project is actually deployed and not showing an error. Third, check that your domain shows as "Active" in Vercel's domain settings, not "Pending" or "Error".

If your domain shows an error in Vercel, the most common cause is that Vercel couldn't verify ownership. This usually means the nameservers haven't fully updated yet, or you entered them incorrectly in SiteGround. Wait another few hours and refresh the page, or go back to SiteGround and double-check that all four nameserver addresses match exactly what Vercel told you.

If you need to revert to SiteGround while you troubleshoot, go back into SiteGround's domain settings and change the nameservers back to SiteGround's original addresses. Save the change. Your site will go offline again for a few hours, but it will come back online on SiteGround. This is a safe way to undo the move if something goes wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to move my domain registration from SiteGround to Vercel?

No. You only need to change the nameservers. Your domain can stay registered at SiteGround forever. Vercel doesn't offer domain registration — it only hosts your site and manages DNS. Keeping the domain at SiteGround is simpler and costs less than moving it.

What if I see my old SiteGround site after I change the nameservers?

This is normal during propagation. Different parts of the internet update at different speeds. Wait 24 hours and check again. If you still see the old site after 48 hours, the nameservers may not have changed correctly — go back to SiteGround and verify that all four addresses match what Vercel told you, character for character.

Can I test my site on Vercel before I switch the domain?

Yes. Vercel gives you a temporary domain (something like projectname.vercel.app) as soon as you create a project. You can use this to test your site before you move your real domain. This is a good idea if you want to make sure everything works before going live.

Will my email stop working when I switch to Vercel?

Only if you were using SiteGround's email service. If you were, yes, it will stop working until you add the email DNS records to Vercel. If you use a separate email provider like Gmail or Outlook, it will keep working as long as you recreate the MX records in Vercel's DNS.

How long does the whole process take?

Changing the nameservers takes 5 minutes. Waiting for propagation takes 2 to 48 hours. So plan for 24 to 48 hours from start to finish before your domain is fully live on Vercel and all visitors see your new site.