The process of setting & redirecting multiple or a single domain to your primary domain or pointing one domain to another is called as Domain Pointing. It can be deployed to point a domain to a specific directory or folder of another domain/site. For example, pointing http://exampledomain.com to http://testdomain123.com/testpagefor/. Here exampledomain.com can be seen pointing to /testpagefor directory of http://testdomain123.com.
Domain Pointing helps in maintaining two dissimilar and different web sites within a single hosting account thereby reducing the hosting charges.
This useful convenience can be rolled in a few ways as described below one-by-one.
– Domain Forward
Domain forward simply forwards a site to another site where it has been pointed. For example, site http://exampledomain.com will simply take you to http://testdomain123.com when browsed. In this way the site is available at both the domains. Domain forward doesn’t play a role in email service as they are kept completely separate with the two hosted domains.
Domain forward can be set in cPanel by utilizing the feature called ‘Redirects’ with ease. In Plesk, simply create the domain which need to be forwarded, next on “Hosting Type” option, select “Forwarding” instead of “Web Site Hosting” and configure as preferred with the rest of the settings.
– 301 Redirect
301 Redirect can be deployed when you already have a website at http://exampledomain.com, but still want it to be forwarded/pointed to http://testdomain123.com. Or it can be explained as a
It is used when required to alter the URL of a web page as it is displayed in search engine. 301 redirect, can be set in numerous ways , by using a htaccess file, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, etc. It’s also important to note that 301 redirects can be utilized to redirect individual pages and not only entire websites.
– Domain Alias
Also called as domain stacking, mirrors all services including email service, etc. of a domain for the pointed domain. A domain alias can have separate custom DNS records, can own DNS zone and separate mail service.
It is noteworthy that the use of domain alias can bring about negative impact to the site and a drop in page rank can be seen. We recommend the use of 301 Redirect if you care about your web site ranking.
