How do I setup a domain redirect?

Video and Web
Creative Director, Video & Web
March 2023 |
 

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You can setup a domain redirect in a couple of ways. We’ll outline these below:

Using the control panel Redirects tool

  1. Login to your control panel  and head to either your list of packages, or list of domains and select to Manage the domain you wish to add the redirect for.
  2. Select the Redirects icon, under Web Tools.
  3. Add the domain you would like to be redirected and then the destination address.
  4. In general, you’d want to use the 301 Permanent Redirect, but if you are planning on only temporarily redirecting the site then you can use a 302 Temporary Redirect.

 

The difference between the two types of redirects is down to how search engines handle them. Search engines use the redirect type as a way to figure out if the old site needs to be kept indexed. Essentially if you want the new site to be a replacement for the old site, you should use a 301 Permanent Redirect, if you’re developing a new website and your current website may be down for a short time, you may want to use a 302 Temporary Redirect.

Using .htaccess

A .htaccess file is an important Apache configuration file usually resides within the public_html folder of your site, it’s a way to add specific rules on a per-hostname basis. A .htaccess rule allows for further configuration of your redirect should you need a more specific redirect. Below are some common examples you may need to add.

Redirect your website to a new domain

To redirect your website to another domain using a .htaccess rule you’d want to add the following rule to your .htaccess file and then save the file:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^oldsite.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.oldsite.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newsite.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]

Force www. instead of non-www.

You could achieve this by editing the site and home URL (if your site is WordPress), but it can also be achieved by using the following rule:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mywebsite.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mywebsite.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]

Force HTTPS

You can use the Force HTTPS tool from within the control panel to always enable https://, however you can also add the following rule:

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}