This page describes requirements for creating buckets with domain names anddiscusses verification methods for domain owners. To learn how to create abucket, see theCreate buckets guide. For general information onbucket naming, see thebucket naming guidelines.

Requirements for domain-named buckets

Cloud Storage considers bucket names that contain dots to be domainnames. As such, a bucket containing a dot in its name must:

• Be a syntactically valid DNS name (for example,bucket..example.com is notvalid because it contains two dots in a row).
• End with a currently-recognized top-level domain, such as.com.
• Be created by a user who isauthorized to work with the domain name.

Examples of valid domain-named buckets includeexample.com,buckets.example.com, andwww.example.co.uk.

Who can create a domain-named bucket

To create a bucket that uses a domain name, you must establish that you areauthorized to use the domain name. People authorized to use a domain nameinclude:

• Verified owners of the domain or parent domain
• Delegated owners of the domain or parent domain
• Verified site owners of the domain or parent domain

Site owners cannot create the bucket when a domain owner exists. This allows thedomain owners to tightly control who can create domain-named buckets.

For example, say you have an IT staff member who owns the website that useshttp://reports.example.com. Once they go through verification of that site,they can create buckets such asreports.example.com andannual.reports.example.com. However, if you later verify that you own thedomainexample.com, only you can then create these buckets. Since youverified the domainexample.com, you can also create the bucketexample.com.As the site owner, your IT staff member can no longer create buckets.

Domain ownership verification

If your project intends to have a domain-named bucket, the team member creatingthe bucket must demonstrate that they are authorized to create a bucket inthe given domain. When you intend tohost your domain's content in aCloud Storage bucket, the recommended verification method is toverify domain ownership.

Cloud Storage uses theSearch Console to verify domain ownership.

To verify domain ownership:

1. Open Search Console. You must be signed in with the user account thatyou will use to manage ownership of your domain.

   Open Search Console

   Note: If you have previously verified a property in Search Console,click the drop-down associated with the previous property's name, andclickAdd property.

2. In theDomain pane, enter the domain or sub-domain that you want toverify, and clickContinue.

   Note: Generally, the domain you verify should be the root-level that youown, without any prefixes such aswww. An example of a root-level domainisexample.com.

3. Follow the instructions that appear in the paneVerify domain ownershipvia DNS record.

Delegated owners

Once you have verified domain ownership, you can add additionaldelegated owners, who can also create buckets under the verified domain name.These owners can includeservice accounts.

To add delegated owners to your domain:

1. Go toSearch Console's user management page. Make sure that the domainyou want to manage is selected in theproperty selector.
2. ClickAdd user.
3. In the dialog box, enter the email of the new owner.
4. ForPermission select "Owner".
5. ClickAdd.

See theSearch Console help page for information on topics including:

• Methods of verifying site ownership.
• Verifying using a DNS TXT or CNAME record.
• Troubleshooting common verification errors.

What's next

• Create a bucket.
• Learn how tohost a static website.
• Learn aboutbucket naming guidelines.