Manually forward or mask your domain or subdomain

Domain or subdomain forwarding lets you automatically direct your visitors to a different website.

Masking prevents visitors from seeing your domain or subdomain forwarding by keeping your domain in the Web browser’s address bar.

Let’s look at this example of how you can configure forwarding.

 

Forwarding coolexample.COM to coolexample.NET
Forwarding Option Visitor Goes To Site Visitor Sees Address Bar Displays
Forwarding
Disabled
coolexample
.COM
coolexample
.COM
coolexample
.COM
Forwarding
w/o Masking
coolexample
.COM
coolexample
.NET
coolexample
.NET
Forwarding
w/ Masking
coolexample
.COM
coolexample
.NET
coolexample
.COM

To forward or mask your domain or subdomain, you must use our nameservers. For more information, see Change nameservers for my domains.

 Required:For your domain or subdomain to forward, its A record must be pointed to 50.63.202.1.

Note: If you want your visitors to be able to go to your domain or subdomain with or without the www prefix, you need to forward your domain name to use www.

To forward or mask your domain or subdomain

  • Log in to your My Products page.
  • If you aren’t automatically directed there, make sure to select the My Products tab.
  • Next to the domain or subdomain you want to use, click DNS.
  • On the DNS Management page, scroll down to the Forwarding section.
  • Next to Domain or Subdomain, click Add, and enter your domain or subdomain name:
    • The value entered can include a period (.) but not as the first or last character.
    • Consecutive periods (…) are not allowed.
    • The entire value cannot exceed 25 characters.
  • Under Forward to, select http:// or https://. For more information, see HTTP vs. HTTPS.
  • Enter the URL you want to forward your domain or subdomain to.
  • Select your Forward type:
    • Permanent (301): Redirects to the site you specified in the Forward To field using a “301 Moved Permanently” HTTP response. The HTTP 301 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) that the location has permanently moved.
    • Temporary (302): Redirects to the site you specified in the Forward To field using a “302 Found” HTTP response. The HTTP 302 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) that the location has temporarily moved.
  • Select your Settings
    • Forward only: Forwards the domain or subdomain without masking.
    • Forward with masking: Prevents the forwarded domain or subdomain URL from displaying in the browser’s address bar, and lets you enter Meta Tags for search engine crawlers in the following fields:
      • Title – Displays at the top of the browser window and in search results (title can be no more than 80 characters)
      • Description – A short description of your website to display in search engine results (description can be no more than 150 characters)
      • Keywords – A list of comma-separated keywords that describes the content and purpose of your website (keywords can be no more than 500 characters)
       Warning: Masking is incompatible with some sites that use https://, i.e. SSL certificates.
  • To automatically update your nameservers to accommodate your forwarding changes, check Update my DNS setting to support this change.
  • Click Save.

 Note: Forwarded domains or subdomains can take up to 24-48 hours to activate.

To remove masking

  1. On the DNS Management page, scroll down to the Forwardingsection.
  2. Next to Domain or Subdomain, click on the Text Icon (pencil icon).
  3. Next, click on the Text Icon (trash can icon).
  4. Click Delete.