Domain forwarding

What is domain forwarding?

Domain forwarding, also known as URL forwarding or domain redirect, is a DNS service that automatically redirects visitors from one domain to another destination URL. When someone types or clicks on the forwarded domain, they're automatically sent to a different website without any additional action required.

Types of domain forwarding

301 Redirect (permanent)

Tells browsers and search engines the redirect is permanent:

• SEO value transfers to destination
• Search engines update their index
• Browsers may cache the redirect

302 Redirect (temporary)

Indicates a temporary redirect:

• SEO value remains with original domain
• Search engines keep indexing original
• No browser caching of redirect

Meta refresh redirect

HTML-based redirect with delay:

• Less reliable than server redirects
• May show intermediate page
• Not recommended for SEO

Common use cases

Brand consolidation

Redirect multiple brand domains to main site:

companyname.net → companyname.com
company-name.com → companyname.com
thecompanyname.com → companyname.com

Marketing campaigns

Short, memorable domains for campaigns:

summersale.com → mainsite.com/summer-promo

Domain migration

When moving to new domain:

oldcompany.com → newcompany.com

Typo protection

Catch common misspellings:

gooogle.com → google.com

How to set up domain forwarding

Via registrar

Most registrars offer forwarding:

1. Log into registrar account

2. Select domain to forward

3. Enter destination URL

4. Choose redirect type (301/302)

5. Save settings

Via DNS

Using A record + web server:

1. Point A record to web server

2. Configure server to redirect

3. Set up SSL for HTTPS forwarding

Via Cloudflare

Page Rules for forwarding:

URL Match: *forwarded-domain.com/*
Forwarding URL: 301 → https://destination.com/$1

Domain forwarding vs domain masking

SEO considerations

Best practices

• Use 301 redirects for permanent forwards
• Forward to relevant destination pages
• Maintain consistent forwarding (don't change frequently)
• Ensure destination site is functional

What to avoid

• Redirect chains (A→B→C)
• Redirecting to unrelated content
• Frequent changes to destinations
• Using 302 when 301 is appropriate

Technical implementation

Apache .htaccess

Redirect 301 / https://destination.com/

Nginx

server {
    server_name forwarded-domain.com;
    return 301 https://destination.com$request_uri;
}

Forwarding with path preservation

Maintain URL paths during redirect:

old.com/products/item → new.com/products/item
old.com/about → new.com/about

This is essential for maintaining SEO value and user experience during domain migrations.