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When I finally got three invitations to join Bluesky last year, I eagerly created one account for my cat, myself, and my business, Libelcom. Soon, I discovered Bluesky was a ghost town with bare-bones features. So, I just used my three accounts as placeholders.

Today, about a year later, Bluesky is hot and getting hotter by the day with more users and useful, distinctive features. One of those features is Bluesky’s ability to verify your Bluesky account using your website URL/domain as your username.

When you have already signed up to Bluesky, you will notice that your default username ends with the bsky.social suffix. Mine was https://bsky.app/profile/libelcom.bsky.social (now reserved), and now it is https://bsky.app/profile/libelcom.com. I thought it was a great way of verifying your account without the hassle of signing up for a “blue check”.

Please note that if you change your default username (with the .bsky.social suffix) to your website URL, your default username will be available for someone else to use. So if you want to keep your default username, you must create a second (new) account to hold that (old) username.

There is an update from Bluesky dated December 19, 2024:

With this recent update, you don’t have to create a second (new) account to hold your default (old) username because Bluesky will automatically reserve your default (old) username.

However, this update is NOT retroactive, meaning it will not automatically apply to your account when you have verified your Bluesky account using your website URL/domain with or without a placeholder account before this update.

This Blusky update makes verifying your Bluesky account easier for users who want to have their account verified but it also sounds challenging for previously verified users. So, hopefully, I will be able to help offer some solutions accordingly.

Before you go ahead and change your default username to your website URL/domain, and reserve your default (old) username, make sure you have the following verified and ready to use:

• Your default (old) username
• Your website URL/domain. Click here to create one if you don’t have one yet
• Your laptop (to sign in to your default username and website URL/domain)
• Your second (new) account
• Your mobile phone (to sign into your second account)

1. How to verify your Bluesky account (your account will automatically be reserved by Bluesky)

1.1. Using your laptop, go to Bluesky on the web and sign in with your default (old) username. Then, go to Settings – Account – Handle – Change Handle. Click “I have my own domain“, and enter the domain you want to use (mine is libelcom.com).

1.2. Using your laptop, go and sign into your web hosting on the web. If you use BlueHost as I do, then go to Websites – Settings – Advanced – cPanel (click on Manage) – Domains (click on Zone Editor) – Select your domain (click on Manage):

1.3. Once you have chosen the domain you want to use, select the Add “TXT” Record (see photo above). Copy _atproto (see photo step 1.1.) and paste it on the Valid zone name area (see photo below).

Then, copy your did=did value (see photo step 1.1.), paste it into the Text area, and then hit the Save Record button (see photo below).

So, your Valid zone name area will now be turned into _atproto.[your website URL] automatically (see photo below):

1.4. Go back to your Bluesky’s Change Handle screen, hit the Verify DNS Record button and you’ll be prompted this “Domain verified!” notification (see photo below). Now hit the Update to [your website URL] button.

Congratulations, your Bluesky account has now been verified and your default username is automatically reserved for you by Bluesky.

As mentioned earlier, this Bluesky update is not retroactive. So when you have already verified your Bluesky account with or without a placeholder, you can choose to leave it as it is or you can also re-verify your Bluesky account then your account will automatically be reserved as well.

2. How to re-verify your Bluesky account without a placeholder account

It is of course technically impossible to re-verify your Bluesky account without having a placeholder so you will have to create a second account to do it. But, what if your default username that you used to have is now already snatched away by another user?

Choosing a username is a personal choice but please consider this, my website URL is libelcom.com so my first logical choice for my default (now reserved) username is https://bsky.app/profile/libelcom.bsky.social.

However, if/when the username libelcom is not available anymore then I’ll use libelcomdotcom instead (this applies to all my social media accounts, not only Bluesky). My placeholder account is now: https://bsky.app/profile/libelcomdotcom.bsky.social.

So, let’s go ahead and continue with re-verify your Bluesky account using a second account as follows:

2.1. Create your second account and verify your email otherwise, you won’t be able to use it.

2.2. Using your mobile phone or laptop, sign in to your second (new) account and go to Settings – Account – Handle – Change Handle. Click “I have my own domain“, and enter the domain you want to use (mine is libelcom.com).

2.3. Follow the steps 1.1. to 1.4. above to complete the re-verifying process.

Congratulations, your Bluesky account has now been re-verified and your default username is automatically reserved for you as well.

3. How to re-verify your Bluesky account with a placeholder account

When you have already verified your Bluesky account previously and also have a placeholder account, the trick is to minimize the time gap between changing your placeholder username to a throwaway username to free up your default (old) username (with the .bsky.social suffix), and then changing your verified account to your default (old) username.

Please note that alternatively, you can also delete your placeholder account to free up your default (old) username, but I wouldn’t recommend deleting your placeholder account before you complete this re-verifying process.

Without further ado, let’s continue with re-verify your Bluesky account using your placeholder account as follows:

3.1. Using your laptop, sign in to your placeholder account and go to Settings – Account – Handle – Change Handle. Enter a throwaway username, mine is https://bsky.app/profile/libelcomdotcom.bsky.social (see photo below). Do NOT hit the Save button yet, instead:

3.2. Using your mobile phone, sign in to your verified account and go to Settings – Account – Handle – Change Handle. Enter your default (old) username, mine is https://bsky.app/profile/libelcom.bsky.social (see photo below):

3.3. Now hit the Save button (see photo step 3.1.) on your laptop, and your default (old) username will be freed up within seconds. So, a few seconds afterward, hit the Save button (see photo step 3.1.) on your mobile phone to claim it back as your default username.

Alternatively, you can check your Bluesky profile to see if your verified account has indeed turned into your default username (with the .bsky.social suffix).

3.4. On your default account, go to Settings – Account – Handle – Change Handle. Click “I have my own domain“, and enter the domain you want to use (mine is libelcom.com).

3.5. Follow the steps 1.1. to 1.4. above without re-adding the DNS record to your domain because you have already done it previously.

Congratulations, your Bluesky account has now been re-verified and your default username is automatically reserved for you as well. Now, you can delete your throwaway account or keep it as a placeholder.

Now that you have managed to (re-)verify your Bluesky account and keep the placeholder account, it is recommended to be transparent and notify the Bluesky community about your Placeholder account and redirect your potential followers to your verified account:

That’s it, now it’s time to use your verified Bluesky account to help build the Bluesky community safely. Have you had other methods to re-verify your Bluesky account? Let us know in the comment section below. Thank you!

Recommendations:

• Claim your domain name using WordPress or Bluehost
• Must-Read: Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too
• Don’t forget to follow me on Bluesky: Lia Belle | Libelcom