What is domain forwarding? How it works and how to get started

Key takeaways:

• Domain forwarding involves redirecting domains to a website of your choice. 
• It impacts both SEO performance and user experience. 
• Depending on the type of redirect, domain forwarding can be a permanent or temporary solution. 

Domain forwarding, also known as web forwarding or URL forwarding, is the process of redirecting website visitors to a different domain or section of your website. When users type a specific website address into the browser address bar, domain forwarding diverts their browsers to a webpage or website you designate.

Domain forwarding is helpful if you own multiple domain names and don’t want to confuse your visitors. It also improves your website’s performance across search engines by consolidating traffic to your original domain.

This article provides a thorough overview of domain forwarding, including its benefits, how to set it up, and best practices. 

What is domain forwarding? How does it work?

Also called redirecting, pointing, or connecting, domain forwarding lets you automatically direct website visitors who enter a specific URL in their address bar to a destination URL you specify. 

Here are some things you can do when you enable domain forwarding: 

• If you registered a domain with one domain registrar but built your website with another online resource, domain forwarding allows you to link the domain to the website.  
• You can link your domain to any landing page or microsite for promotional or informational purposes. 
• You can even forward your domain to a social media account so that when people type in your online address, domain forwarding redirects visitors to your Facebook or X accounts. 
• It also includes accessibility options when you set up domain forwarding that let you edit your redirects based on DNS records to point to a different web address. 

Domain pointing and forwarding might sound similar. Our guide on domain pointing can give you a better idea of the differences between domain pointing and forwarding.

Why use domain forwarding? 

Domain forwarding affects your website’s visibility, addresses user errors like typos and misspellings, and provides value to both domain owners and website visitors. You can direct user errors and misinputs to the same site as your brand’s URL. 

Here are some benefits you can expect when you practice domain forwarding. 

• Improved SEO
• Brand protection
• Simplified management
• Improves user experience
• Cost saving

Improved SEO 

• Consolidates traffic: It funnels traffic from different domain names into your primary website. Improved page views will enhance your visibility on various search engines.
• Preserves link equity: Permanent domain forwarding transfers the SEO value of the original link to the new address, preserving the domain’s SEO ranking. 
• Prevents duplicate content: Multiple domain versions create duplicate content, which harms SEO rankings. Domain forwarding with 301 redirects consolidates them, eliminating confusion for search engines.  

Brand protection 

• Brand awareness: If you own a website, you can protect your brand by purchasing variations of the address’s top-level domains (TLDs), such as .com, .net, .org, or country-specific versions like .us or .ca. This ensures website visitors will land on your primary webpage. 
• Consistency: When you own multiple domain names, domain forwarding ensures your visitors have a unified user experience. It also eliminates duplicate content by redirecting forwarded domains to the original and old domain.  

Simplified management 

• Centralized management: You’ll have an easier time managing multiple domains when you use domain forwarding to point to a central webpage. Instead of designing and configuring every domain, you only need to address your primary website. 
• Redirecting subdomains: You can use URL forwarding to direct them to your main site, improving efficiency and creating a cleaner website structure. 

Improves user experience 

• Prevents mistakes and confusion: Websites with multiple domains with similar naming conventions enhance visitors’ experience through domain forwarding. It guarantees that your visitors land on the correct pages and avoid dead ends or 404 errors. 
• Seamless navigation: Domain forwarding lets your users avoid memorizing multiple web addresses. It can redirect domains to always display the most up-to-date and recent website. 

Cost saving 

• Lower maintenance costs: You reduce hosting provider costs and maintenance upkeep by leveraging URL forwarding to redirect addresses from different domains into one domain. 

Learning the differences between a domain name and a hostname will help you better understand the importance of domain forwarding.

What are the types of web forwarding?

There are three types of domain forwarding, differentiated based on the duration of the redirects and the number of domain names redirected. 

Here’s what you need to know about the different forms of domain forwarding. 

• 301 redirects
• 302 redirects
• WildCard forwarding

301 redirects 

• What it is: A 301 redirect is when you permanently move your web address to a new domain. It tells browsers and search engines that your old site is defunct and your brand has a new website. 
• When to use it: You utilize a 301 redirect when you want to inform search engines and website visitors that you’re relocating your old URL to a new domain. It’s helpful in rebranding, migrating to a new domain, and consolidating pages.  
• SEO impact: This type of redirect retains the original site’s SEO score and site ranking and transfers them to the new domain. 
• Use case: You want to transfer your company website from oldurl.com to newurl.biz. By using a 301 redirect, newurl.biz inherits the search engine ranking of oldurl.com. Your website’s DNS settings automatically redirect users who type oldurl.com into their address bars to your new domain. 

302 redirects 

• What it is: A 302 redirect is a type of domain forwarding that notifies users and search engines that you’re temporarily moving content to a new custom domain but will return to your original website eventually.
• When to use it: A 302 redirect is useful for temporary changes, such as when your URL structure changes or your site is under maintenance. 
• SEO impact: SEO equity doesn’t transfer when forwarding your domain using a 302 redirect. It’s a temporary move, so search engines don’t reflect any SEO changes. 
• Use case: If your site goes down for maintenance, a 302 redirect helps users interact with your brand when they can’t access your primary site.  

Wildcard forwarding 

• What it is: Wildcard forwarding redirects all the subdomains you own to a domain you specify.  
• When to use it: When you want a simplified site structure where all your subdomains lead to a specific page without managing each subdomain. 
• SEO impact: It depends. Search engines will transfer SEO value if you configure the site’s DNS settings for permanent redirects. 
• Use case: You own the domain newurl.biz and want every subdomain to lead to the primary site. Wildcard forwarding can redirect subdomains like blog.newurl.biz or store.newurl.biz to the primary website. 

However, you might run into issues with too many redirects. If improperly configured, you can create more issues than you solve.

How do I configure domain forwarding on Network Solutions? 

Like most domain registrars, we make it easy for users to set up web forwarding. To do so, you just need to access the Network Solutions account manager and navigate to the proper section. 

Here’s how you do it. 

1. Log in to your Network Solutions account. 
2. Access the Account Manager by entering https://www.networksolutions.com/my-account/login into the address bar. 
3. Click the Domains option in the left side pane to access the domain settings.  
   
4. Select the domain you want to manage and press the … button.
5. On the window pane, select the Manage options.
6. On the Advanced Tools page, select the Add Web Forwarding button and start the forwarding process.  

You can get a more in-depth guide to domain forwarding from our account manager via our knowledge base walkthrough. 

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What are the best practices for domain forwarding? 

Domain forwarding can be a powerful tool for enhancing brand recognition when used effectively. Here are some best practices to get the most out of web forwarding: 

• Use the appropriate types of redirects. Apply 301 redirects when you’re transferring to a new site or rebranding. On the other hand, 302 redirects reroute to your temporary page while your main site undergoes maintenance. 
• Avoid redirect loops: Ensure your redirect location doesn’t point to itself. Redirect loops can confuse users and search engines, leading to customer dissatisfaction and lower site ranking. 
• Ensure the destination is relevant. Ensure the forwarded domains are relevant to your users’ search intent. For example, if you redirect blog.newurl.biz to your home page, verify that your website has visible blog entries. 
• Test regularly. Inspect your redirects before committing them to your live site. Ensure that each redirect leads to the intended destination and doesn’t create any redirect loops. 
• Monitor analytics and tools. Use tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Search Console (GSC) to observe your domain forwarding performance. Adjust your forwarding rules if your domains start losing traffic. 

Our glossary on domain terms can help you better digest the information found in this guide.

Frequently asked questions

Make the best use of your domain portfolio with domain forwarding

Domain forwarding has benefits, such as improving SEO performance and providing a better user experience. If you own several domains and subdomains, you can use our domain forwarding to funnel traffic into your preferred primary domain. 

We make domain forwarding simple and accessible, so you can create a future-proof website with brand consistency.