Your own tracking domain

By the HonestTag team ยท Published October 13, 2026

On Starter and up, you can move HonestTag's tracking address to a subdomain of your own domain with one DNS record. It is optional. The default address keeps working either way, Shopify's order webhooks never use your domain, and if the record breaks, an hourly check moves the pixel back to the default address on its own. Until that move completes, pixel tracking on the broken name can stop.

What the DNS record does

Every store gets its own tracking address on HonestTag's domain. The record you add is a CNAME: it points a name under your domain, like ht-k3x9p2.yourstore.com, at that address. HonestTag then serves the same tracking from your name. There is no second record to add.

What it changes: the browser pixel reports to a domain you own, which holds up better against content blockers that block known tracking domains by list. What it does not change: consent works exactly the same on either address, and it does not get around Safari's tracking prevention. HonestTag makes no cookie-lifetime or match-rate promise for it.

Skipping it changes nothing about what HonestTag measures.

Setting it up

  1. Open the Setup tab in the app and find Your own tracking domain. It suggests a name that starts with ht- followed by six random characters, so it cannot clash with a subdomain you already use. You can edit it.
  2. Add the CNAME the card shows wherever your domain's DNS is managed. If your domain is managed by Shopify (bought through Shopify or transferred to it), that is Settings, then Domains, in Shopify admin: click the domain, click Manage under DNS settings, then Add custom record, and choose CNAME. Otherwise it is usually the company you bought the domain from. Copy the name and the target exactly as shown. If the name field already shows your domain after it, type only the first part, the ht- label.
  3. HonestTag checks the record and issues the certificate for the new name itself. The Setup tab checks it for up to 15 minutes while it is open, and from one day after setup starts, an hourly check looks at it too. The pixel moves to your name once the check passes.

The card refuses names that would break your own site or mail if pointed at HonestTag, such as www, shop, checkout or mail. It also refuses a myshopify.com address, because Shopify controls that DNS. Not sure where your domain is managed? Email support@honesttag.com and we will tell you.

What happens if the record breaks

Orders do not depend on it. HonestTag learns about each order from Shopify's order webhooks, and those always come to the default address, never to your domain. Only the browser pixel moves to your name. Conversion delivery to your ad platforms starts from those orders, so it does not depend on the record either.

HonestTag checks it every hour. If the record disappears or the certificate lapses, HonestTag points the pixel back at the default address, raises an alert in the app, and the card names the exact fix. When Cloudflare, which serves the name for HonestTag, reports the name or its certificate as no longer serving (for example moved, deleted or expired), or no longer has the name at all, HonestTag acts at the first hourly check that sees it. When only HonestTag's own DNS lookup fails, the miss has to repeat on the next hourly check, so one bad lookup does not move anything. Until the check runs, pixel tracking on the broken name can stop.

It does not switch back by itself. When the record works again, the card says so, and you choose Re-enable to move the pixel back to your name.

When the move back is delayed. Moving the pixel back is a change HonestTag asks Shopify to make. If Shopify does not accept it at that moment, the pixel stays on the broken name, HonestTag retries every hour, and the alert says that pixel tracking may be lost until the move goes through or you fix the record. Orders still arrive through the webhooks the whole time.

Turning it off. Reverting on the card points the pixel back at the default address right away and removes the certificate. Shoppers with a page already open may lose a few page events around that moment. Nothing already measured is lost.

What it costs, and who you pay

If you uninstall

When your store's data is deleted after you uninstall, HonestTag also releases the name on its side. If that release fails, the failure is logged and the rest of the deletion goes ahead. HonestTag never had access to your DNS, so the CNAME record stays at your domain host until you remove it. See what happens when you uninstall.

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