How to redirect a domain: A Complete Guide for Beginners 

Let's say we've bought a new domain which better represents our business, but your clients know you better by the old name. In this article, we'll learn what is a domain redirect, how to do it, and when you should do it.

What is a Domain redirect?

When you redirect a domain, you are simply forwarding it to a different address on the same or different domain. You can redirect your users from your old domain to your new one so that the old users can still connect to the new website with the old domain.

How to redirect a Domain?

The easiest way to redirect a domain is by connecting to your hosting provider's control panel. For this tutorial we'll be using DirectAdmin:

1. Go to DirectAdmin control panel. Under Advanced features category, select Site Redirection.
2. On the newly opened window, we can see which domain and which website page will be doing the redirection. By default whole domain is doing redirection to a different website, but also there's an option to create a custom website page redirect, for example, website.com/discord could redirect to a discord group invitation page. But in this case, you would need to create a button on your website that does the redirection to website.com/discord. When creating a redirection, you always have to check if the information you've typed in is correct. Also, make sure that you have chosen the correct protocol - HTTP or HTTPS.
3. When the redirection is created and Save button is pressed, we can see where the domain or part of it forwards.
4. When the redirection is created, sometimes you may have to wait a few minutes for the redirection to become valid.

You should be able to follow these steps on almost any control panel, as the process is very similar.

Why should I redirect my domain?

There are plenty of situations where redirecting a domain or URL can be useful. The most common reasons are:

• Having duplicate content. The same content on multiple websites can negatively impact your website SEO ranking. Search engines can't decide which website is the main one, that has the correct information and where it should rank on search results
• Managing multiple domains. Instead of having multiple websites with the same page, it's wiser to redirect them to the main one.
• Migrating to a new domain. If you decide to buy a new domain and create a new website, you can redirect your old domain to the new website, so that your old clients are able to access and see your new content.
• Changing a post’s URL. You can avoid 404 errors entirely by redirecting URLs of deleted posts to a new page.

Final words

Domain redirection is a common practice that is rather easy to do. But there s always some homework that should be done before taking action in order to do everything correctly. Redirections often can help in situations when you'd like to divert your clients from unwanted or non-existent pages and show them different pages instead. This can also help when redirecting your users to your social media or other content.

Good luck!