Domain forwarding gives you the ability to forward one domain to another.
Think of a forwarded domain as an alias for your primary domain. For example if you enter “firefox.com” into your browser, you will end up at “mozilla.com”.
Please keep in mind that your primary domain (it’s probably the one on your business card) should not be forwarded; it should be “pointed” – please see “How Do I Configure My Domain?”.
There are 2 reasons for this:
- A domain that is “pointed” is indexed by search engines more readily than a domain that is “forwarded”.
- If your primary domain is configured for forwarding, site visitors will see username.topproducerwebsite.com or username.featuredwebsite.com instead of your domain name in the address bar of their browser.
Any secondary domains you own can be configured to forward to your primary domain if you like, depending on the options provided by your registrar.
There are 2 kinds of domain forwarding available:
- 301 permanent redirect – tells search engines that the “true” address is the targeted domain.
- 302 temporary redirect – tells search engines that this domain will be used elsewhere shortly.
If given the choice, use the “301 permanent redirect” option and avoid the 302. Search engines prefer the 301. If your registrar does not offer a choice, or does not state what kind of forwarding they use, contact their support to find out.
You may come across domain forwarding with “masking” or “cloaking”. Masking is a method of using domain forwarding that “frames” your website within another site, thus allowing your forwarded domain to “mask” the target URL. We do not recommend using masking as it can hinder search engines from indexing your website properly.