How do I redirect my domain name to another URL?

Overview

URL redirection or URL forwarding is a system that directs one domain name to another. For example, when a visitor types in wikipedia.com or wikipedia.net, they are automatically redirected to wikipedia.org.

URL redirection can be used for URL shortening, to prevent broken links when web pages are moved to allow multiple domain names belonging to the same owner to refer to a single website.

Below are instructions on how you can redirect your domain name or specific pages within your website to another URL. There are several different methods you can use to achieve this service based on what kind of hosting you have. The instructions for each hosting type are below:

Domain Manager Redirection

Our Domain Manager service includes a URL Redirection tool. This allows users to point their domain to another URL using an application available within the Console. To activate URL redirection, follow these instructions:

1. Log into your Account
2. Manage the domain you want to make changes to
3. Click Redirection, If the Redirection icon does not appear within the Console, you may be subscribed to a plan that does not include this service, please call customer service for further assistance
4. In the  field type the URL you wish to redirect your domain name to
5. Click Update redirection

You can also enable or disable cloaking from this page. The pros and cons of enabling and disabling cloaking when performing a redirection are explained below.

URL redirection for cPanel hosting

For more information on how to use the redirection options within cPanel, refer to the video tutorial available on the Redirection page within cPanel. To get to this page in cPanel, as well as how to add in a redirection, follow these instructions:

1. Log into cPanel
2. Click on the Redirects icon
3. Select the domain as well as file or path you wish to redirect from
4. Type in the URL that you wish to redirect to
5. Select from the available parameters
6. Click [Add]

301 redirect using PHP

Create a .php file (example: index.php) and add in the code below. When this is added to your website, any visitors to that file will be redirected to the URL that is entered into the code below.

<?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" );
?>


301 redirect using .htaccess

Create a .htaccess file with the below code.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Place the .htaccess file into your root directory. The above code will redirect all visitors to the site where the .htaccess exists to the new URL you enter into the .htaccess file.