How Domain Forwarding Works: Benefits of Domain Forwarding

Running a successful online business means owning domain names. Even a straightforward shoe brand, like goodshoes.com, may need to own multiple domains, such as goodshoes.co and greatshoes.net, to prevent user confusion, track different marketing campaigns, and maintain consistent branding.

Domain forwarding ensures customers reach your main website from multiple domain name variations. Here’s what it is and how it works.

What is domain forwarding?

Domain forwarding—also known as URL forwarding or domain redirection—automatically redirects website visitors from one domain name to another.

For example, if someone types www.camerashoppe.co into their browser’s address bar, domain forwarding can load www.camerashop.com so visitors automatically arrive at the correct domain extension and name.

Domain forwarding can redirect customers from your old domain to your new domain after a rebrand, consolidate web traffic to a specific domain, track campaign analytics with a specified URL tied to a marketing initiative or influencer, or even forward traffic from competitor sites by registering a misspelling of the competitor’s domain name.

How domain forwarding works

You can set up domain forwarding through your domain registrar or hosting provider. Typically, a setting in the domain management section will include simple instructions on different redirect types and forwarding rules.

On the technical side, browsers and DNS servers handle domain forwarding without additional user action. After a user enters or clicks on a domain name (e.g., example.com), the browser asks domain name system (DNS) servers for the specific IP address associated with the domain name. If domain forwarding is set up, the DNS servers respond by telling the browser the new domain server. The user’s web browser sends a request to the new domain’s server and loads the new domain’s website.

Domain forwarding vs. redirecting, pointing, and connecting

Domain forwarding, redirecting, pointing, and connecting may appear synonymous, but they fall into two main uses: sending users to new domains and linking domains to servers.

Domain forwarding and redirecting both send site visitors from the original domain to a new one. For example, you can redirect a user visiting goodshoes.com to your expanded new site goodappareal.com. Domain forwarding is a general term, whereas domain redirecting often refers to more detailed server-side configurations, with HTTP redirect codes like 301 and 302—detailed below.

Domain pointing directs a domain name to a different website or server without changing the destination URL. If you’re migrating servers, you may want to set up domain pointing to retain your current domain name. If a visitor goes to example.com, the browser loads example.com but fetches content from the new server you’ve pointed to. You can set up domain pointing by configuring DNS records (e.g., A records, CNAME records), typically found in your domain provider’s control panel.

Domain connecting is not a forwarding type—it’s a way to link your domain to a third-party service (e.g., Shopify, Wix, Weebly). For example, if you’re building an ecommerce website using Shopify, you can buy a domain name and connect it to your store to generate visitor traffic.

3 types of domain forwarding

1. Permanent 301 redirect
2. Temporary 302 redirect
3. URL masking

There are three main types of domain forwarding:

1. Permanent 301 redirect

A 301 redirect indicates that a domain has permanently moved to a new URL. When a user visits a domain with a 301 redirect, the server sends an HTTP 301 status code telling the browser and search engines that the page or site has permanently relocated.

The 301 redirect is ideal for preserving your search engine optimization (SEO) score when changing a domain name because search engines transfer the old domain’s ranking authority to your new domain name.

If your hosting provider doesn’t offer simple redirect options, you’ll need to modify the .htaccess file on your site server to create a 301 redirect, which requires HTML knowledge. Consult your domain registrar or web host if you have concerns about the process.

If you don’t configure your 301 redirects properly, users may receive an error notice when accessing your page and search engines may show duplicate content from both domains.

2. Temporary 302 redirect

A 302 redirect is a temporary forwarding method that maintains your original domain for future use, often created for:

• Temporary promotions. Direct traffic to a promotional page during a sale or event.
• Website maintenance. Redirect visitors to a “maintenance” page while updating your main site.
• A/B testing. Direct a portion of traffic to an alternative page version when conducting A/B testing.

Note that, unlike a 301 redirect, a 302 redirect does not pass your full SEO authority to the new domain. Ensure your SSL certificate is valid on the original and new domains to avoid security warnings. Contact your registrar or web host for help.

3. URL masking

URL or domain masking displays a redirected website’s content but retains the original domain name in the browser’s address bar, creating stronger branding and cleaner URLs for your visitors. Masking uses HTML meta tags with a domain name alias.

For example, if you have two websites and the second one takes off in popularity, you might use domain masking to show website2.com in the address bar when someone visits website1.com. That said, few large businesses use URL masking, as it may create issues with bookmarking, sharing, duplicate content, security, and navigation, resulting in a poor user experience and negatively impacting search engine rankings.

5 benefits of domain forwarding

1. Consistent branding
2. SEO preservation
3. Simplified marketing and tracking
4. International targeting
5. Domain management and consolidation

Here are five benefits of the domain forwarding process:

1. Consistent branding

Owning multiple domains and forwarding them to the same URL can help maintain a consistent user experience and present a strong brand image. For instance, your business can register multiple domain variations (e.g., example.com, example.net, example.co) and forward them to the same homepage.

Redirects are essential to consistent branding if you change your business name and website domain, letting you keep your old domain names while ensuring they still lead customers to your new, updated website.

2. SEO preservation

Using 301 redirects during website migrations or URL structure changes helps maintain your position within search engine results pages (SERPs). Search engines recognize the permanent move, transferring ranking power and link equity—the value passed through links to pages—from the old URL to the new one. This prevents duplicate content issues and ensures current search traffic reaches your website.

3. Simplified marketing and tracking

Using 302 redirects helps you create shorter, more memorable URLs for marketing campaigns. For example, you could register a custom domain name, ex.co, for a promotional event that redirects users to a specific promotional page, article, or product listing on your main website, www.example.com/promotionalevent.

Analytics tools, like Semrush or Google Analytics, let you track how much traffic 302-redirected promotional URLs or affiliate links bring to your website, helping you plan future marketing strategies.

4. International targeting

If you have different versions of your website per country, domain forwarding can direct users to the right version based on their location. This can boost site credibility by offering a user experience with geographically applicable language and currency settings. For instance, you can register the domain example.ca for Canadian users and forward it to example.com/ca.

5. Domain management and consolidation

If you acquire multiple domains through mergers and acquisitions, or register domains for future projects, domain forwarding lets you consolidate them under one central website. This simplifies domain management by reducing the need to maintain multiple websites. To make it seamless, configure domain and email forwarding in your account settings whenever you register a new domain.