“Record Could Not be Added” DNS Error in GoDaddy – Solution

Banner for the blog post, featuring the post title and a server room background

The other day, while working with the DNS records of a client who uses GoDaddy’s nameservers, I got the cryptic message:

“record could not be added”

when trying to save a new record or change an existing record.

Besides being a prime example of how not to write error messages, it truly just didn’t give me any indication of why I couldn’t change the record.

A rabbit hole of Googling led me nowhere, and it wasn’t until I had spent quite a bit of time working with support before I learned the very obvious reason for this message.

The reason you are seeing the “record could not be added” error is most likely because you have Godaddy’s “Website Security” plan, and the firewall blocks any DNS changes.

The solution, then, is to simply disable the firewall.

Note that it’s also possible you are trying to add a duplicate DNS record, e.g. a second “www” CNAME. You can only have one CNAME with the same name. The following instructions apply to the security issue.

When I created this post originally, GoDaddy did not have any articles discussing their firewall, but they have since added one here, which also should have up-to-date instructions on getting to the firewall if mine below no longer seem to work.

These are the instructions that should bring you to the page where you can disable that firewall. Note that they could change the interface at any moment, as they are prone to do.

  1. Go to your GoDaddy product page.
  2. Under Website Security and Backups, click “Manage All”.
  3. Under Firewall, select Details.
  4. Click “Settings” in the top right
  5. On the left, click “Firewall Status”
  6. Click “Disabled” and then click “Save”

Screenshot of the Godaddy Security settings page, where you can disable the firewall

Note that I tried disabling the security firewall, changing the record, and then re-enabling the firewall, and for whatever reason, the record reverted to the old one.

You may have to leave it off at least until the DNS propagates (which could take up to 48 hours). I don’t personally see much value in this “security” service but maybe you want to keep using it.

Also note that our client didn’t have to worry about any of this at all, because we handled it all for them. What could have been a huge headache for them was handled at no additional charge with one of our lightning-fast hosting plans.

GoDaddy is a bargain-barrel hosting provider and, as such, their hosting is is incredibly slow. I strongly recommend upgrading to something better!

 

About Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson is a website developer and designer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a passion for code and WordPress. He spends his days building WordPress websites for small businesses, developing new code with the online community, and living life.

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