GoHighLevel White-Label Checklist: 25 Things to Brand First

You signed a new client, created their sub-account and loaded your snapshot. Then you log in as them and notice the details: a HighLevel favicon in the browser tab, a calendar link on a domain you have never heard of, a menu that says Contacts to a dental practice, and a mobile app with someone else’s name. Each one is small. Together they tell the client they are renting software, not using yours. HighLevel (also called GoHighLevel or GHL) gives you most of what you need to fix this, but the settings are spread across agency settings, sub-account settings, DNS records and custom code, and it is easy to miss a few.

This GoHighLevel white-label checklist puts all of it in one place: 25 items in five layers, in the order that saves you time, with the menu path for each HighLevel setting, who usually does it, and what the client sees when it is done. Where a dashboard design helps, it shows which GHL Dashboard Builder feature covers the item and which plan includes it. We are an independent service, not affiliated with HighLevel, so the checklist also marks what no theme can change. If you want the background first, our complete guide to white-labeling HighLevel explains the concepts this checklist builds on.

What is a GoHighLevel white-label checklist?

A GoHighLevel white-label checklist is a list of every place where HighLevel’s name, look or wording can reach your client or their customers, with the setting that replaces it. Working through it before onboarding means the client’s first login, first email and first booking link all carry your brand instead of HighLevel’s.

The checklist below groups the work into five layers, because each layer is done in a different place and often by a different person:

1. Identity. Your logo, favicon, login domain, link domain, company details and legal pages. These are mostly agency-level HighLevel settings plus a few DNS records.
2. Messages. What your client’s customers receive: emails, texts, invoices and links. These live mostly in each sub-account.
3. The dashboard. What your client’s team sees every day: colors, fonts, sidebar, menu wording, the home screen, buttons and the pipeline board. Almost all of this needs custom code.
4. Outside the dashboard. The login page, the language, the client portal and the mobile app. A mix of HighLevel settings, add-ons and design work.
5. Protection and testing. Hiding client data on calls, testing before launch, and keeping a way back if something breaks.

Two terms appear throughout. A sub-account is one client’s workspace in HighLevel (HighLevel also calls it a location). The agency view is where you manage all sub-accounts and the agency-wide settings, including the Custom Code boxes where a theme is installed.

Order matters for one practical reason: DNS. Domain records can take time to take effect, so the identity layer comes first, and you work on the dashboard while the records settle.

The 25-item checklist at a glance

The table is the whole checklist. Each item is explained in the sections that follow, with steps and the problems to watch for. “HighLevel” in the third column means one of HighLevel’s own settings; “Theme” means custom code, written by you, a developer or a design service.

The split is worth seeing as numbers, because it shows how much of a white-label setup HighLevel already gives you and how much is design work on top.

Twelve items cost nothing but time. Ten are where most agencies stop, because custom code is slow to write and needs maintenance. The next section shows how a design service covers those ten, then the checklist continues layer by layer.

How does GHL Dashboard Builder cover the design items on the checklist?

GHL Dashboard Builder is an independent design service that turns the standard HighLevel (GoHighLevel) dashboard into a branded platform: your colors, menu, login design, privacy mode and your clients’ language, installed with two lines of code. On this checklist it covers the theme items, numbers 2, 11 to 14, 16, 17, 20 and 23, and designs the login screen (item 18) with you.

You design the look visually in the free builder, starting from one of 27 templates or from scratch, and preview it on desktop, tablet and phone before anything touches your HighLevel account. The builder never connects to your account. When the design is approved, you get two install lines: one CSS line and one JavaScript line for Settings, Company, Whitelabel, Custom Code in the agency view. Installing takes about five minutes, and on Pro and Agency we install it for you.

The table maps the checklist items to the features that deliver them, what each does for your clients, and the first plan that includes it. All 18 features are described on the features page.

What the client sees afterwards: the same HighLevel they would have had, with the same data, permissions and automations, in your colors and with their own words in the menu. The theme restyles HighLevel’s interface in the browser. HighLevel’s own white-label settings still handle the domain, logo and mobile app, which is why the identity and message layers below remain your job whichever theme you use.

Identity: which domains, logo and details do you set up first?

Set up the identity layer first because it is free, supported by HighLevel and the slowest to take effect. It covers items 1 to 6: your logo, favicon, login domain, link domain, company details and legal pages. Start the DNS records today and finish the rest while they settle.

1. Agency logo

HighLevel’s help center describes the Whitelabel tab of the agency settings as the place for client-facing branding. It recommends a logo of 350 by 180 pixels and no larger than 2.5 MB, and says the logo appears on the login screen, in the app header and in notification emails.

1. In the agency view, open Settings (the gear at the bottom left).
2. Open Company, then the Whitelabel tab.
3. Upload the logo and save.

Use a version with a transparent background that reads on both a light login card and your sidebar color. A wide logo with small text becomes unreadable at header size, so test it there, not only on the login screen.

2. Favicon

The favicon is the small icon in the browser tab. Clients keep the dashboard open in a tab all day, so a HighLevel icon there is one of the most visible leftovers. HighLevel supports favicons for sites, client portals and membership pages, but at the time of writing the agency dashboard’s own tab icon is changed with custom code. GHL Dashboard Builder sets it as part of the brand settings in every plan.

3. White-label login domain

The white-label domain is the address where clients log in, for example app.youragency.com. HighLevel’s guide to setting up a white-label domain for the desktop web app describes the steps at the time of writing:

1. At your domain provider, create a CNAME record for the subdomain you want (for example app) pointing to the target HighLevel shows in its guide and your settings.
2. If you use Cloudflare, set the record to DNS only so the security certificate can be issued automatically.
3. In the agency view, go to Settings, Company, Whitelabel, Whitelabel Domain, enter the full subdomain and click Update.

Check the target in your own account before creating the record; third-party guides quote different targets, and the one in HighLevel’s current guide wins.

4. API domain for system links

The API domain changes the domain in links that HighLevel generates: forms, surveys, calendar links, trigger links, payment links and review links. HighLevel’s article on branding system-generated links explains that an agency-level API domain is the default for all sub-accounts and a sub-account-level domain overrides it for one client. HighLevel also notes that branded links are less likely to be flagged as spam.

This item is the one agencies forget most, because nobody inside the dashboard sees these links. Your client’s customers do, in every booking reminder and payment request. Don’t reuse the DNS records of one domain type for another; HighLevel’s help center treats each domain type separately.

5. Company name and support email

Fill in the agency’s company name and a support address on your own domain in the agency’s company settings. Notifications and agency-level messages use these details, and a support address on a free mail provider undoes the effect of everything else. Use a shared inbox such as support@youragency.com that more than one person reads.

6. Privacy policy and terms

Publish your own privacy policy and terms of service on your website, and reference them in your client agreement and on any sign-up page you control. HighLevel’s terms cover your relationship with HighLevel, not your relationship with your client. This is a legal question as much as a branding one, so have the texts checked for the countries you serve.

Messages: what do your clients’ customers see in emails, texts and links?

Items 7 to 10 cover the messages your client’s customers receive. Set them up in each sub-account, because they must carry the client’s name, not yours. A customer who receives an email from an unknown domain or a text from an unregistered sender is less likely to trust it and, in many cases, less likely to receive it at all.

7. Dedicated email sending domain

A dedicated sending domain lets the sub-account send email from the client’s own domain instead of a shared one. HighLevel’s guide for setting up a dedicated sending domain with Google gives the path, in the sub-account, as Settings, Email Services, Dedicated Domain, + Add Domain. The same guide says you can use the root domain or a subdomain such as replies.clientname.com, that a root domain already used for Google Workspace email needs a subdomain, and that the Google setup adds 5 DNS records: 2 TXT, 2 MX and 1 CNAME.

Most clients don’t manage their own DNS, so ask for access, or for the person who has it, at the sales stage. Waiting on a client’s web designer for a DNS record is the most common reason onboarding stalls.

8. Sender names and reply-to addresses

Set a sender name the customer recognizes (the client’s business name, or a person at the business) and a reply-to address that reaches a real, monitored inbox. Replies that land nowhere create support tickets you will receive later. Send a test email to a personal address and check the sender line on a phone, where long names are cut off.

9. Business profile

Each sub-account has a Business Profile, the first item in its Settings menu. HighLevel’s article on business profile settings separates a friendly name from a legal name: the legal name is used for compliance registration and should match the business’s legal documents exactly. The sub-account logo uploaded there represents the client in your agency’s Accounts list and can appear in invoices and emails.

Fill this in during onboarding, not later. Invoices sent before the profile is complete go out with a blank or wrong name, and a wrong legal name delays item 10.

10. Texting registration

If the client sends text messages, many countries and carriers require the sender to be registered. In the United States this is A2P 10DLC registration, which HighLevel handles in the sub-account’s phone settings at the time of writing. Register in the client’s legal business name from the business profile, with matching tax details, because a mismatch can delay or block approval. Register each client’s sub-account for that client’s own business, rather than relying on your agency’s details.

The dashboard: what should clients see when they log in?

Items 11 to 17 decide what your client’s team sees every working day. HighLevel’s own settings change very little here, so this layer is custom code: colors, fonts, the sidebar, menu wording and order, the home screen and the components on every page. It is also the layer clients notice most, because they spend hours in it.

11. Brand colors and fonts

A complete color system has more than one color: a primary color for buttons and links, an accent, a sidebar color, a header color, surfaces such as cards and backgrounds, and status colors for success, warning and error. Check that text stays readable on every one of them. The W3C asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text, and a bright brand color behind white text often fails it. A darker shade of the same color usually passes.

Pick a font that supports every language your clients use. A font without Arabic or Hebrew characters falls back to a default font in exactly the places where the menu matters most.

12. Sidebar and header

The sidebar is the most visible part of HighLevel, and the default one is the clearest sign of the platform underneath. Restyle it in your colors, with icons that match your brand, and give the header and the sub-account switcher the same treatment. If your clients prefer a menu across the top, a top navigation layout moves HighLevel’s menu into a bar, with the remaining items under a More menu; in GHL Dashboard Builder that is a Pro feature.

13. Menu wording

HighLevel calls everyone a contact and every deal an opportunity. A dental practice has patients, a roofer has jobs, a law firm has matters. At the time of writing, HighLevel’s own settings do not rename the built-in menu items, so renaming needs custom JavaScript that changes the labels in the browser. Agree the words with the client during the sales process; they will use them in training, in support tickets and with their own staff. Our dental and medical template shows Contacts renamed to Patients, and the home services template renames Opportunities to Jobs.

14. Menu order and hidden items

A new client does not need every tool on day one. Hide the menu items their plan does not include or their team will not use, and move the daily tools to the top. A shorter menu shortens training and reduces “where do I find” questions. Keep a note of what you hid, because a user who needs a hidden page later will report it as missing.

15. Custom menu links

HighLevel’s own Custom Menu Links, under Settings, Custom Menu Links in the agency view at the time of writing, add your pages to the menu: a support form, a booking page for a strategy call, your help documentation or a client report. Each link can open inside HighLevel, in a new tab or in the current tab. Point support links at your help pages, not HighLevel’s, so clients who need help come to you.

16. Dashboard home screen

The Dashboard page is the first screen after login. HighLevel’s own widgets decide which figures it shows; a theme can add a welcome banner with the user’s first name, the date and quick links, and an appointments board with the next bookings. Choose figures the client actually checks, such as appointments today and unread conversations, and leave the rest off. Our guide to GoHighLevel dashboard customization covers every part of the home screen in detail.

17. Buttons, cards, forms and the pipeline

A branded sidebar next to default blue buttons looks unfinished. Carry the brand color through buttons, tabs, tags, dropdowns and form fields, and do not forget the opportunities board, where sales teams spend their day. Our pipeline customization guide covers stage colors and card styles.

If you write this layer yourself, our custom CSS guide for HighLevel explains where the code goes and why selectors break after updates.

The dashboard layer is the part of the checklist that is hardest to picture in advance. Seeing your colors and a renamed menu on HighLevel’s real screens settles most design questions in a few minutes.

Login page, language and mobile app: what changes outside the dashboard?

Items 18 to 22 sit outside the dashboard: the screen before it, the language it speaks, the client portal and the phone. They are a mix of HighLevel settings, a paid add-on and design work. None of them is fixed by a dashboard theme alone, so decide each one on purpose.

18. Login page design

The login page is the first screen every client sees, every day. HighLevel shows your logo on the login page of your white-label domain (items 1 and 3); the layout, background and wording are otherwise HighLevel’s. Pro and Agency include our login page design: 12 designs in your colors, from a clean card to photo splits and a highlights panel. At the time of writing, the installed two-line code does not change HighLevel’s login page itself; we design the login screen with you, and HighLevel’s white-label settings put your domain and logo there.

19. Platform language

HighLevel translates its own interface into a growing list of languages. Its internationalization article gives two settings: a default for the sub-account under Settings, Business Profile, Platform Language, and a personal override for each user under Settings, My Profile, Platform Language. The article lists Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and the Nordic languages among those covered.

Set the default before you create the client’s users, then check one new user. HighLevel’s ideas board has a user request about new users starting in English instead of the sub-account’s language, so confirm it in your account rather than assuming.

20. Menu language and right-to-left

HighLevel’s platform language covers its own pages. For Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, where the layout must read right to left, and for menu wording in the client’s language with your own terms, the menu and navigation need custom code. GHL Dashboard Builder translates the menu and navigation into 15 languages, mirrors the layout right-to-left for Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, and lets you set your own wording for any label. Text inside HighLevel’s own pages, builders, system emails and the mobile app still follows HighLevel’s language settings. Our guides to the Arabic HighLevel dashboard and the Hebrew right-to-left dashboard show what this looks like for each language.

21. Client portal domain

If the client uses HighLevel’s client portal for courses, communities or a customer area, give it a branded domain too. HighLevel’s guide to setting up the client portal says each sub-account’s portal starts on a default subdomain and can use a custom domain instead. The portal also has its own language settings, separate from the platform language.

22. Mobile app decision

Clients will ask for an app. HighLevel offers two routes: the standard app, published under the LeadConnector name, and a white-label app with your own name and icon. HighLevel’s pricing guide lists the white-label mobile app as an add-on at $497 a month or $1,491 a quarter at the time of writing. Whichever you choose, write it into your onboarding email: which app to download, what it is called, and that it looks different from the web dashboard. A dashboard theme runs in the browser only and does not change either app.

How do you protect client data during demos and onboarding calls?

Plan item 23 before your first onboarding call, not after a mistake. Onboarding means screen shares, recorded walkthroughs and support calls, and HighLevel shows real names, emails, phone numbers and deal values on almost every screen. You need a way to hide them on demand, or a separate account with no real data.

There are three common approaches, and most agencies end up using two of them:

• A demo sub-account with sample data. Safe for sales demos and training videos. It does not help on a support call, where you need to see the client’s real account.
• Careful sharing. Share one browser tab instead of the whole screen, close other tabs and notifications, and pause recordings before opening contacts. It works until someone forgets.
• A blur on demand. A button that blurs personal data while you share. This is what GHL Dashboard Builder’s privacy mode does: an eye button in HighLevel’s header that blurs contact names, email addresses and phone numbers in tables, links and fields, the conversation list and opportunity values. You choose how strong the blur is, and it is in every plan.

Whichever you use, add one line to your onboarding process: before any screen share, turn privacy on or switch to the demo account. A client who sees their customers’ phone numbers in your marketing video will not forget it.

How do you test a GoHighLevel white-label setup before the first client logs in?

Test items 24 and 25 in one test sub-account, as a client would see it, before any real client logs in. Check every main screen, a limited-permission user and a phone-sized window, then save the previous code so you can undo a change in a minute. Plan for about an hour; it catches most problems before a client does.

24. Test in a test sub-account

Create a sub-account that you use only for testing, load your usual snapshot into it, and check it in this order:

1. Log in at your white-label domain in a private browser window, so no saved session hides problems. Check the logo, the favicon and the login screen.
2. Open every main screen: Dashboard, Conversations, Calendars, Contacts, Opportunities, Payments, Marketing and Settings. Look for leftover default colors and for text that is hard to read.
3. Open the small parts: the sub-account switcher, dropdown menus, date pickers, filters and confirmation dialogs. Themes often miss these.
4. Log in as a user with limited permissions. Their menu is shorter, and a renamed or hidden item can behave differently.
5. Narrow the browser to phone width. Check that the menu opens and closes and that headings still fit.
6. Send yourself the messages: a test email from the dedicated domain, a calendar link, a form link and a payment link. Every domain in them should be yours or the client’s.
7. Switch the platform language for a test user if the client works in another language, and check the menu direction for right-to-left languages.

25. Rollback and an owner for upkeep

Before you install or change custom code, copy the current contents of both Custom Code boxes into a file. If something breaks, paste the old code back and you are where you were. Then name the person who re-checks the test sub-account after HighLevel updates; HighLevel does not officially support custom code, so a large platform update can require a theme refresh.

With GHL Dashboard Builder, the two install lines stay the same when you change the design: you edit it, press Deploy to live, and HighLevel picks up the new version. Removing the theme means clearing the two boxes. Starter and Pro include 12 months of updates that keep the theme working through HighLevel’s changes, then optional updates at $99 a year; Agency includes lifetime updates.

Should one client get a different look from the rest?

Sometimes, yes: a premium client paying for their own branded platform, a pilot before you switch the whole agency, or one client who needs a right-to-left menu. HighLevel’s agency-level custom code applies across every sub-account by default, so per-client looks need code that checks which sub-account is open.

GHL Dashboard Builder handles this with one setting. Choose Only these sub-accounts in the builder and add each sub-account by pasting its link or its Location ID. Those sub-accounts get the design; the agency view and your other sub-accounts stay as they are, still from one install. You can add or remove sub-accounts at any time.

Be precise about what this covers: one design is shown in the chosen sub-accounts. Starter includes 1 design, Pro up to 3 and Agency up to 100, and if you want different looks for different clients, talk to us about how to set that up before you buy.

A pilot is also the safest way to run this checklist for the first time. Brand one real client’s sub-account, watch their first week, fix what they notice, then switch the rest.

What can go wrong, and what does the checklist not fix?

Most problems on this checklist are timing and access, not technology: DNS records nobody can change, a business profile filled in late, a theme installed without a test. Some limits are permanent, because they sit in parts of HighLevel that no setting or theme reaches. Know both before you promise a client “your own software”.

What the checklist cannot change, whatever you install:

• HighLevel’s own builders and pages. The funnel builder, email builder, workflow builder and many settings pages keep HighLevel’s design. A theme styles the frame around them and the common components, not every pixel inside.
• The mobile apps. Custom code runs in the browser. The LeadConnector app and HighLevel’s white-label app follow their own design.
• HighLevel’s system emails and help content. Their wording and language follow HighLevel.
• Full translation. A theme translates the menu and navigation; text inside HighLevel’s pages follows HighLevel’s platform language, which does not yet cover every language.

None of these is a reason to skip the checklist. They are a reason to describe your platform honestly: branded, in the client’s words and language, built on a platform that also has its own parts. Clients accept that; they do not accept discovering it.

Which items can you do yourself, and which need help?

You can do all twelve HighLevel settings yourself in an afternoon, plus DNS waiting time. The ten theme items are where the real choice is: write the code yourself, hire a developer, or use a design service. The right answer depends on your skills, how many clients you brand, and who will maintain the code after HighLevel updates.

If you choose GHL Dashboard Builder for the theme items, the plans are one-time payments with no monthly fees, and upgrading later costs the difference between plans.

Starter covers the brand colors, favicon, sidebar, header, welcome banner, appointments board, buttons, the pipeline board, privacy mode and a design limited to chosen sub-accounts: items 2, 11, 12, 16, 17 and 23. Pro adds the menu editor for items 13 and 14, the login page design for item 18, 15 languages with right-to-left for item 20, top navigation and installation by our team. Agency adds up to 100 designs, a look designed from scratch by our team, your own custom CSS and JavaScript and lifetime updates. The full contents of each plan are on the pricing page, and questions about installing, removing and updates are answered in our FAQ.

What to do next

1. Start the DNS work today. Create the white-label domain and API domain records (items 3 and 4), and ask your next client for DNS access for their sending domain.
2. Fill in the agency details. Upload the logo at 350 by 180 pixels, set the company name and a support address on your domain, and point your custom menu links at your own help pages.
3. Write the client’s words down. At the sales stage, agree what they call contacts, opportunities and calendars, and which language their team works in.
4. Preview the theme items in the free builder: a template, your colors, a renamed menu and privacy mode on HighLevel’s real screens.
5. Run items 24 and 25 in a test sub-account, then brand one real client first and roll out to the rest once their first week is clean.

If you serve clients in several countries, our market pages show how the dashboard looks with each country’s language, currency and date conventions.