Domain forwarding automatically sends anyone who visits one domain to another address. Type oldname.com and you land on newname.com. It is usually a checkbox and a destination field in your registrar's dashboard, and it lets a second domain do useful work without any hosting of its own.
How forwarding works under the hood
Registrars run small redirect servers. When you turn forwarding on, they point the domain's DNS at those servers. A browser arrives, the server replies with an HTTP redirect status and the destination URL, and the browser goes there. Nothing is copied; the second domain is just a signpost.
You will usually be asked to choose between a permanent redirect, a 301, and a temporary one, a 302. Pick permanent when the move is for good, so search engines transfer the old name's signals to the destination.
Plain versus masked forwarding
Some registrars offer masked or cloaked forwarding, which keeps the original domain in the address bar and loads the destination inside a frame. It looks neat but causes real problems: many sites block being framed, the address bar never changes as people click around, mobile layouts can break, and search engines see an almost empty page. Plain forwarding is the better choice nearly every time.
Example: a rebrand and a typo domain
A cleaning company renames itself from Sparkle Clean to Brightway. It keeps sparkleclean.ca and forwards it permanently to brightway.ca so old business cards and reviews still work. It also owns brightwayclean.ca, a name customers often guess, and forwards that too. Ideally, the forwarding keeps the path, so sparkleclean.ca/prices goes to brightway.ca/prices rather than the home page.
When small businesses need it
Forwarding is worth setting up after a rename, for common misspellings, for other endings you bought to protect the brand, or for a short campaign domain printed on signage. If you have only one domain, you can ignore it. It is a better use for spare names than domain parking.
Where forwarding setups go wrong
- No HTTPS on the forwarded domain. If the registrar's redirect server has no certificate for the old name, anyone visiting
https://gets a warning before the redirect happens. Check both versions. - Breaking email. Switching nameservers to enable forwarding can wipe MX records. Forwarding the website does not forward mail.
- Choosing a temporary redirect for a permanent move. Search engines may keep the old name in results.
- Dropping every path on the home page. Deep links from old listings stop pointing to the right content.
Related terms
- 301 redirect: the permanent redirect forwarding should normally use.
- 302 redirect: the temporary version, for short campaigns.
- Domain registrar: where forwarding is usually switched on.
- Domain parking: the default for a spare name you have not forwarded.