Domain Forwarding Explained: 3 Types and 6 Setup Steps

Quick answer

Domain forwarding sends anyone who types one web address to another, such as your .com to your main .co.uk site. Set it in your registrar’s control panel or at your host, choose a permanent (301) forward, include both the www and bare versions, and avoid masked forwarding, which hides the real address and causes problems with search and security.

Most small businesses end up owning more than one domain: the .co.uk and the .com, an old name from before a rebrand, a common misspelling, or a campaign address for a van or a flyer. Forwarding is how those extra addresses earn their keep without becoming separate websites. This guide explains the types of forwarding, how to set it up, what goes wrong and how to check it works.

What domain forwarding is

Forwarding (also called a URL redirect) tells browsers that a domain lives somewhere else. Someone types yourname.com, and a moment later they are on yourname.co.uk with that address showing in the bar. Nothing is hosted on the forwarded domain itself; it simply points the way.

It is different from connecting a domain to a website. Connecting means the domain is the site’s real address. Forwarding means the domain is a signpost to another address. A business normally has one main domain connected to the website and any number of others forwarding to it.

The three types you will be offered

Registrar control panels usually offer three options. Namecheap’s help documentation, for example, lists 301 (permanent), 302 (unmasked) and masked (URL frame) redirects, and notes that a new redirect usually takes around 30 minutes to start working. Other registrars use similar labels.

Google’s own documentation explains that with a permanent redirect, the new target is shown in search results, while with a temporary redirect the source page tends to be shown. It also notes that server-side redirects have the best chance of being read correctly. For a spare domain you intend to keep pointing at your site, permanent is the right choice.

Why masked forwarding causes trouble

Masked forwarding looks tidy on the surface: the visitor keeps seeing the domain they typed. Underneath, your real website is loading inside a frame on someone else’s address. The common problems are:

• Visitors cannot bookmark or share the correct page, because the bar never changes.
• Contact forms, payments and logins inside a frame can break or trigger security warnings.
• Search engines see two addresses with the same content and have to guess which one matters.
• Many sites block being framed for security reasons, so the page may simply show blank.

If you want a second domain to be the “real” address, connect it properly and forward the others to it instead.

When forwarding makes sense

• Your .com and your .co.uk. Pick one main address and forward the other, so customers who guess the wrong ending still find you.
• After a rebrand. Keep the old domain and forward it to the new one, ideally page by page, so old links, reviews and printed material keep working.
• Misspellings. If your name is easy to mistype, a forwarded misspelling catches lost visitors.
• Campaign addresses. A short address on a van or a leaflet can forward to a specific landing page, which also helps you see which campaign brought the visit.

How to set up domain forwarding, step by step

1. Decide your main address. One domain, one version (with or without www), used everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, email signatures and print.
2. Log in where the spare domain’s DNS is managed. That is usually the registrar, but if the domain uses your host’s nameservers, forwarding is set at the host instead.
3. Choose a permanent (301) redirect and enter the full destination, including https://.
4. Cover both versions. Forward the bare domain and the www version. Missing one is the most common mistake.
5. Check for conflicting records. An old A record or CNAME on the same host name can override the forward.
6. Wait, then test. Give it time to take effect, then test from a phone on mobile data as well as your office connection.

A hypothetical example: picture a Bristol roofer trading as Smith Roofing on smithroofing.co.uk. They also own smithroofing.com, smith-roofing.co.uk and an old domain from a previous trading name. All three forward permanently to https://smithroofing.co.uk, each covering the bare and www versions. The old trading domain forwards its former “services” and “contact” pages to the matching new pages, and everything else lands on the homepage. One address appears in search, on the van and on the invoices, and nobody who types an older or misspelt address hits a dead end.

The HTTPS catch

Here is the snag that catches most people. A visitor who types https://yourname.com expects a secure connection before the forward even happens. If the forwarding service cannot present a valid SSL certificate for that spare domain, the browser shows a security warning instead of forwarding. Plain http:// visits forward fine, which is why the problem often goes unnoticed until a customer mentions it.

Some registrars include certificates for their forwarding service and some do not. If yours does not, the dependable fix is to point the spare domain at your hosting and set the redirect there, where a certificate can be issued. If you are already seeing warnings on your main site, our guide to a website showing “not secure” walks through the causes.

Forwarding after a rebrand or site move

Forwarding a whole old domain to your new homepage is better than nothing, but it throws away the value of deep links. If the old site had service pages, blog posts or a shop, map each old page to its closest new page. Google’s guidance on site moves with URL changes recommends exactly this kind of page-level mapping, plus telling Search Console about the move.

Registrar forwarding usually cannot do page-by-page mapping, so a moved site generally needs the old domain pointed at hosting where proper redirect rules can be written. Keep the old domain registered for years, not months, because printed material and old links keep sending visitors long after you have moved on.

Check it works: a ten-minute test

A free redirect checker will also show you the status code of each hop. You want a single 301, not a chain of several redirects or a 302 where you meant a 301.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Forwarding to the http:// version of your site, which then redirects again.
• Letting the spare domain lapse, so the forward silently stops.
• Using masked forwarding to make a cheap domain look like a separate site.
• Forgetting email: web forwarding does not forward email sent to the spare domain.
• Printing the spare domain on a van before testing it from a phone.

If your main site itself is not appearing in search, forwarding will not fix that; our guide to a website not showing on Google covers the usual causes, and our website launch checklist includes redirects in the final checks.

Let us set it up for you

Forwarding is a ten-minute job when it goes right and a lost customer when it goes wrong. Our Website Management and Hosting is £20 a month and includes UK hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring and up to three business mailboxes, so spare domains can be pointed at hosting with proper certificates and redirects. If a rebrand or new site is behind the move, our custom WordPress websites start at £499, and every price is on our pricing page.