Domain forwarding and redirects done properly

The short answer

If you are permanently sending one domain to another — a rebrand, a typo domain, a consolidation — use a 301. If you genuinely intend to send the traffic back later, use a 302. Never use masked or frame forwarding, whatever your registrar calls it. And set the forwarding on both the apex (example.com) and the www host, because they are separate names in DNS and forwarding one does not forward the other.

That covers most of the job. The complications that actually catch people are not conceptual: they are that Porkbun's forwarding defaults to a temporary redirect and its own documentation recommends one, that Namecheap cannot do a same-domain http to https redirect with a redirect record at all, that GoDaddy locks your @ A record the moment forwarding is enabled, and that a redirect from an unrelated expired domain into your site is a named violation of Google's spam policies rather than an SEO tactic.

The terms, defined precisely

These get used interchangeably in conversation. They do not behave interchangeably.

• URL forwarding. A registrar-run service that points your domain at the registrar's own web servers, which issue an HTTP redirect for you. You run no server. Most registrars let you pick permanent or temporary, and many also offer masking.
• 301 (Moved Permanently). An HTTP status code telling browsers and search engines the resource has moved for good. Google states: "The 301 and 308 status codes mean that a page has permanently moved to a new location." The correct choice for a domain you are consolidating. See HTTP 301.
• 302 (Found) and 307 (Temporary Redirect). Temporary redirects. The source URL stays the one search engines show. Correct only when you mean to move the traffic back — a campaign, a seasonal destination, a trial.
• 308 (Permanent Redirect). Behaves like a 301 but guarantees the HTTP method is not changed. Google treats 301 and 308 alike as permanent. See list of HTTP status codes.
• CNAME (Canonical Name record). A DNS record saying one hostname is an alias for another. It is not a redirect: the address bar keeps showing your domain, no HTTP status code is involved, and the destination server must be configured to serve your hostname. A CNAME cannot exist at the apex under standard DNS, because the apex must carry SOA and NS records and a CNAME cannot coexist with other records. See CNAME record.
• ALIAS / ANAME. A vendor-specific record that behaves like a CNAME but works at the apex: the DNS provider resolves the target itself and returns the resulting A/AAAA records. Not standardised, so naming and availability differ by provider — Cloudflare calls its version CNAME flattening.

Which to use, in one line: consolidating permanently into another site, 301; pointing somewhere temporarily, 302; serving the same site under two hostnames without changing the address bar, CNAME — or ALIAS/ANAME at the apex.

What a 301 does and does not pass

From Google Search Central, "Redirects and Google Search":

"If you need to change the URL of a page as it is shown in search engine results, we recommend that you use a permanent server-side redirect whenever possible."

The same documentation sets out the consequence that makes the status code matter: permanent redirects show the new target in search results, temporary redirects show the source page. Rebrand with a 302 and the old domain keeps appearing; the consolidation you thought you performed never happened.

On the question everybody actually asks — whether a 301 passes SEO value — Google's current framing is canonicalisation, not link-juice transfer. The redirect signals which URL should be canonical, and the destination is what appears in search; for a genuine move, Google's site move documentation is the reference. The defensible statement is narrow: a 301 from a site you controlled to a relevant destination consolidates that URL's signals. It does not transfer value from an unrelated domain into your site, and Google polices attempts to do exactly that.

Note also what a redirect never carries: email. Forwarding is HTTP-layer behaviour and has no effect on MX records. If mail should still reach addresses on the old domain, that is separate DNS configuration you have to keep alive.

Masked forwarding, and why it is a bad idea

Masked forwarding — also sold as frame or cloaked forwarding — loads the destination inside a hidden frame so the address bar keeps showing your forwarding domain. GoDaddy describes its version as one that "keeps your domain in the browser address bar". It is offered almost everywhere and is the wrong answer almost everywhere.

• It achieves nothing for search. The destination sits inside a frame, so the forwarding domain has no content of its own to index and there is no redirect for a crawler to follow. Nothing consolidates: you get two weak URLs instead of one strong one.
• The address bar lies. Users cannot see which site they are on, cannot bookmark a real page, cannot check the destination's certificate identity, and share links that go to the wrong place.
• It often just breaks. Many sites set X-Frame-Options or Content-Security-Policy: frame-ancestors headers as an anti-clickjacking defence and refuse to render in a frame. GoDaddy says as much: "some websites don't support masking and may not properly display the destination site."
• It is what Google's policies describe. Showing users and search engines different things is cloaking; Google defines sneaky redirecting as doing this "maliciously in order to either show users and search engines different content or show users unexpected content that does not fulfill their original needs" (spam policies).

The two cases where masking feels appealing — a vanity URL, or hiding an ugly destination path — are better solved with an unmasked 301, or a real one-page site on the domain.

Registrar by registrar, and where they differ

The concept is standard; the implementations are not. Each of these four has a specific trap.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy offers permanent (301), temporary (302) and masked forwarding. Permanent, in its words, "tells search engines to display the new site content as the permanent location for the domain." Two things worth knowing. HTTPS is handled for you — "forwarding over HTTPS is now automatically applied to your domain when you set up forwarding," which retires the old warning about certificate errors. And the trap: "adding forwarding will automatically update and lock your @ A record." You cannot edit that record until forwarding is removed, which is a surprise if you later decide to host the domain.

Namecheap

Namecheap supports 301, unmasked 302 and masked URL-frame redirect records in Advanced DNS. Its HTTPS constraints are the weakness: "redirecting with a secure connection (HTTPS) is only possible to a different destination domain." In practice a same-domain http to https redirect cannot be done with a URL redirect record — that needs .htaccess or the SSL plugin in cPanel. Cross-domain HTTPS redirects require SSL certificates on both ends, and redirecting to an unencrypted destination can trigger browser warnings.

Cloudflare

Cloudflare is the most capable option and is free, at the cost of moving the domain's DNS there and proxying the records. It offers Single Redirects (zone-level, wildcard matching), Bulk Redirects (account-level, across domains, no regex) and Snippets for JavaScript logic. Free-plan limits are 10 Single Redirect rules per zone, and 15 Bulk Redirect rules across 5 lists with up to 10,000 URL redirects. Both require proxied DNS records. Cloudflare also provides CNAME flattening, which solves the apex-alias problem.

Porkbun

Porkbun offers free forwarding in three types: temporary redirect (302/307), permanent 301, and masked frame redirect, the latter two under advanced settings. Useful extras: a checkbox to "include the requested URI path in the redirection", so domain1/about lands on domain2/about, and wildcard forwarding covering the root domain and all subdomains. Redirects activate in 10 to 15 minutes, and existing DNS records must be removed first.

The Porkbun trap is the default. Forwarding defaults to the temporary redirect, and Porkbun's knowledge base recommends it, saying it "is easily reversible and will not negatively impact SEO for the target site." That is reasonable advice for a trial or a campaign URL and it is the wrong choice for a permanent consolidation or a rebrand, because a 302 leaves the source URL as the one shown in search results, per Google's own documentation. Anyone accepting the default without thinking will silently fail to consolidate.

Three differences generalise: path and query-string preservation varies, and some services drop the path and send everything to the homepage; wildcard subdomain forwarding is not universal; and HTTPS behaviour differs sharply. Registrar forwarding also runs on shared infrastructure you do not control, with no logs and no analytics.

Setting it up without breaking anything

• Forward the apex and www separately. They are different hostnames, and assuming one covers the other is the most common reason a redirect "does not work".
• Point every domain directly at the final destination. Chains such as old to older to new add latency and failure points for no benefit.
• Map the URLs, do not dump them on the homepage. If the old domain had real pages with links, send each to its matching page. A blanket redirect to the homepage throws away the relevance you are trying to preserve.
• Test what the browser actually receives, on both http and https and on both hosts: confirm the status code is 301 rather than 302, and that there is exactly one hop.
• Keep the forwarding domain renewed indefinitely. The redirect works only while you own the name. Let it lapse and the traffic stops, the links break, and anyone can register your old brand and point it wherever they like.

The expired-domain trap

The tactic is old and still sold: buy an expired domain with a backlink profile, 301 it into your site, inherit the authority. Google's spam policies name the pattern directly:

"Expired domain abuse is where an expired domain name is purchased and repurposed primarily to manipulate search rankings by hosting content that provides little to no value to users."

Google's examples on the same page include affiliate content on a site previously used by a government agency, commercial medical products on a former non-profit charity's site, and casino content on a former elementary school site. The redirect version falls under the link spam and sneaky redirect provisions alongside it.

Google also acknowledges that legitimate reasons to redirect exist — site moves, consolidation, login flows — and directs you to consider whether the redirect is meant to deceive users or search engines. That yields the test to apply before you set anything up: would the visitor who typed the old domain consider your destination a reasonable place to land? If yes, redirect. If the only reason is the backlinks, do not. And note that the policy argument is the second-best argument here; the first is that it mostly does not work any more.

When forwarding is right, and when it wastes a name

Forward when:

• The domain is a defensive registration — a typo, misspelling, plural, hyphenated variant or alternate TLD of a brand you run. Forward them all to the main site. This is the best use of forwarding there is.
• You have rebranded or changed domains. 301 the old name to the new one and keep it renewed indefinitely. This is the textbook case Google's documentation is written for.
• You need a vanity or campaign URL — a short memorable domain for print, radio or an event, landing on a deep page. Unmasked, always.
• You are consolidating sites you genuinely own and the content has moved.

Do not forward when:

• The name is a good generic you could sell. Forwarding earns nothing and hides the name from buyers: the visitor lands on someone else's homepage with no signal that the domain is available and no way to contact you. The effect on the asset is neutral; the effect on inbound inquiries is strongly negative.
• The domain is an unrelated expired name bought for its links. See above.
• You would rather develop it. Forwarding builds no content, no rankings, no email list and no equity in the name.
• The domain has an established audience and the destination is unrelated. You lose the audience and may acquire a spam problem.

One compromise, if a name has both traffic and resale value: forward it, but keep a for-sale listing live at a marketplace so buyers who search rather than type can still find it.

Frequently asked questions