In an Internet-driven world, you need a recognizable and memorable domain name and a responsive, user-friendly website to stay ahead of the competition. These elements form the foundation of your digital business.
Since all of your website traffic depends on your online visibility, you should aim to host a website that gives you the traffic you need to skyrocket your lead generation, conversion, and retention rates.
Google Cloud is the best solution for hosting a high-traffic website without breaking your budget. In this Google Cloud web hosting tutorial, you’ll learn everything you need to host your website on Google Cloud, including how to do it.
So let’s get down to business.
What you need to do to host your website on Google Cloud
Google Cloud web hosting service allows you to put your website on a digital platform through an affordable subscription. You rent a virtual server to host your website on Google Cloud, giving you access to all the benefits of cloud hosting.
Google Cloud offers numerous solutions for hosting your website and business-related applications in the cloud. You can also get highly secure data storage for storing your business data and web content.
Thanks to the cloud, you can easily access, share and distribute your online business resources according to your needs without worrying about cyber threats, hack attacks, data loss, etc. More importantly, the cloud scales with your business operations without additional resources.
With that in mind herea list of everything you need to host your website on Google Cloud:
Google account;
A domain (you must be its administrator or owner);
A CNAME record;
A storage bucket;
Uploaded website data to the cloud;
access authorization;
Website configuration for the cloud.
How to host your website on Google Cloud in 5 steps
Here is a detailed guide to help you set up Google Cloud web hosting for your website.
Step #1. Create a CNAME
The CNAME record (Canonical Name Record or Alias Record), along with Domain Name Services (DNS), is one of the critical systems required for websites to function on the web. DNS translates website names into IP addresses of web servers that host those websites.
There is a section within DNS dedicated to adding RECORDs to the DNS record. This section ensures that each website has the necessary web configuration to function properly in the cloud. This is where you create your CNAME to ensure that the web directs users to your site when they enter the name without “www.”
Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Navigate to Google Domains.
Follow this path: Google Domains > My Domains > Manage > DNS.
Step 2: Select Custom Resource Records.
In the DNS settings tab, click Custom resource records and add yours CNAME record. If everything is OK, you should see this window:
Step #2. Create your storage bucket
The next step is to create your storage bucket to store your static website data.
Step 1: Open the Cloud Console.
Navigate to storage panel in the Cloud console and follow this path: Storage > Storage Task > Create Bucket.
Step 2: Choose your bucket settings.
Fill out the required fields:
Name your bucket – Name your bucket with the name of your website;
Select data storage – decide on that Multi-regional Ability to make your information generally available;
Classify your data storage – choose the one standard storage class;
Select object control access – Select yours Access control model by clicking Set permissions consistently at the bucket level (bucket policy only).
Click Create to complete the process.
Step #3. Upload website data
Before uploading your website data to Google Cloud, you must obtain the static data from your marketer or website developer. Once you receive the static files, upload them to your storage bucket by following the steps below.
Step 1: Open the Cloud Console.
Go to Google Cloud Platform > Cloud Console > Storage > Browser.
Step 2: Select the bucket name.
Select yours Bucket name to open this Bucket details Tab and click Upload folder.
Step 3: Upload your data.
Select the website files and folders you want to move to Google Cloud and click Upload.
Step #4. Add access permission
Adding an access permission allows you to apply bucket-level permissions to your entire bucket. Here’s how.
Adding an access permission allows you to apply bucket-level permissions to your entire bucket. Here’s how.
Step 1: Add permissions.
Open that Cloud console and follow this path: Google Cloud Platform > Cloud Console > Storage > Browser > Bucket name > Bucket details > Permissions.
Step 2: C
In the Permissions tab, click Add membersand choose all users with Storage object viewer Access.
If your actions were successful, you should see this window:
Step #5. Configure the website
Finally, we come to the final step – configuring your website for the cloud. There are two pages you need to configure:
Index page — Assign an index page suffix (MainPageSuffix property);
Error page – Assign an error page suffix (NotFoundPage property).
An index page or web server directory index is the file that Internet users see when they enter a URL that does not have a file associated with it. When you assign an index page, Google Cloud retrieves a matching file and URL with the matching prefix.
The error page is a web page that visitors see when they enter a URL that does not match an existing file on your website. The most common HTTP response to an error page is the 404 (not found) code.
How to configure your website:
Step 1: Find the Edit website configuration option.
Navigate to Google Cloud Platform > Cloud Console > Browser. In the Browser section, locate the Settings (three dots) menu and select Edit the website configuration.
Step 2: Set index and error page settings.
In the Main page Enter field index.html. In the 404 page (not found). Enter field 404 page.html.
That’s it; Your website is ready for Google Cloud web hosting.
Diploma
This Google Cloud web hosting tutorial is designed to help you prepare your website for migration to the cloud environment. Google is not only the most comprehensive and leading search engine in the world, but also one of the best cloud service providers on the Internet.
Since moving your digital business to the cloud brings numerous benefits such as: Such as increased data security and more scalable and flexible operational capabilities, your online business will benefit significantly from Google Cloud web hosting.