Domain forwarding sends visitors who type one domain to a different web address. Your registrar or DNS host answers the request with an HTTP redirect, ideally a 301 for a permanent move. Avoid masked forwarding, which wraps the target site in a frame, and make sure the forwarding service can serve HTTPS for the old domain.
| Option | Address bar shows | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 301 forward | The destination | Extra domains, typo domains, a permanent rebrand |
| 302 forward | The destination | A short campaign or a temporary move |
| Masked forward (frame) | The old domain | Rarely a good idea |
| DNS record (A or CNAME) | The domain typed | Serving the same site on the domain itself, not forwarding |
Updated
Business owners forward domains for simple reasons: a spelling variant, an old brand name, a country domain or a campaign name that should land on the main site. Forwarding is a redirect, an instruction that tells the browser to go to another address, and the type you choose decides what search engines remember. Use the planner below to pick the right type and get the server rules if you would rather set it up on your own host.
Fill in the two addresses. The rules update as you type; nothing is sent anywhere.
| Code | Kind | Method kept? |
|---|---|---|
| 301 Moved Permanently | Permanent | May change to GET |
| 308 Permanent Redirect | Permanent | Yes |
| 302 Found | Temporary | May change to GET |
| 307 Temporary Redirect | Temporary | Yes |
The $request_uri variable carries the path and query string across, so deep links still land correctly.
server {
listen 80;
listen 443 ssl;
server_name old-example.com www.old-example.com;
# ssl_certificate lines for old-example.com go here
return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri;
}Redirect permanent sends a 301, and Apache appends the rest of the path to the target.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName old-example.com
Redirect permanent / https://www.example.com/
</VirtualHost>An instant meta refresh is treated by Google like a permanent redirect. A server redirect is still better.
<!doctype html>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://www.example.com/">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/">
<a href="https://www.example.com/">Continue to example.com</a>MDN groups them simply: 301 and 308 are permanent, 302 and 307 are temporary. The difference within each pair is that 301 and 302 may let the browser turn a form POST into a GET, while 307 and 308 keep the original method and body.
For forwarding a whole domain, where visitors arrive by typing or clicking links, 301 is the usual choice.
Registrar forwarding is the quickest route for a spare domain with no hosting. Your own server or CDN gives you control over paths, HTTPS certificates and caching, and makes the rule easy to read later.
Either way, the old domain needs DNS that points at whatever is doing the redirecting, or no request ever reaches it.
A 301 says the move is permanent and a 302 says it is temporary. Google's guidance says it uses a permanent redirect as a signal that the target should be the canonical address, and does not do so for a temporary one.
Masking keeps the old domain in the address bar by loading the real site inside a frame. Many sites send a frame-ancestors rule that refuses framing, so visitors see a blank page; deep links and page titles also stop working as people expect.
Only if the forwarding service holds a valid certificate for the old domain. Registrar help pages differ here: Namecheap, for example, says an HTTPS to HTTPS redirect between domains needs active SSL certificates on both. Without one, visitors typing https:// see a security warning before any redirect happens.
No. Pointing DNS with an A or CNAME record serves a site on the domain itself, and the address bar keeps that domain. Forwarding sends the browser elsewhere with a redirect, so the address bar changes to the destination.
It depends on the provider and on DNS caches. Namecheap's help says its redirects usually start working in about 30 minutes; other registrars publish their own estimates.
Related: Redirect rules generator, Redirect checker, Fix too many redirects, www vs non-www, Add a custom domain.
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