URL forwarding is a service which allows you to redirect visitors from your domain name to other domain names or internet services. purely.website provides both http and https URL Forwarding free of charge for purely.website registered domains. No SLA or warranty is provided with this service.
Example uses:
- Forwarding from https://www.yourdomain.uk/ to https://yourdomain.co.uk/
- Forwarding from https://social.yourdomain.co.uk/ to https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourcompany/
Note: this service is NOT suitable for redirecting http to https on the same domain name (eg http://yourdomain.co.uk/ to https://yourdomain.co.uk/).
The process to forward a domain involves 4 steps:
- Set the correct nameservers for the domain (It is important that this is done first).
- Configuring DNS for the URL Forward service.
- Adding the URL Forward.
- Wait and test.
1. Setting the nameservers
- Go to the nameserver settings page and set the two nameservers to the following:
a.pipe.co
b.pipe.co
2. Configuring DNS for the URL Forward service
- If you have not already, create a DNS zone for the domain name.
- Add a DNS A record to the DNS zone
a) “Name” should match the “Forward from” above (use “@” or “www”).
b) “Type” should be “A”.
c) “TTL” can be left as default.
d) “RDATA” must match the IP address above 167.99.204.170. - After adding the DNS records, PLEASE WAIT 24 HOURS then proceed to add the URL Forwards as outlined below.
3. Adding the URL Forward
- Your domain name must first be registered or transferred to purely.website.
- Login to your my.purely.website account.
- Using the top menu sub menu, click Domains.
- Using the left menu click URL Forwarding.
- Click Add forward at the bottom of the forwarding list.
“Forward from” will typically be one of:
a) “<blank>” or “@” or “.” to redirect https://yourdomain.co.uk
b) “www” to redirect https://yourdomain.co.uk
c) “other” to redirect https://other.yourdomain.co.uk
- “Forward to” will be the full URL you want the user to be redirected to, for example:
a) https://yourotherdomain.co.uk
b) https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourcompany/
c) https://www.yourotherdomain.co.uk/support/?q=help - “Type of redirect” would usually be for example:
a) 301 if the change is expected to be mostly permanent and reflected in search engines
b) 302 if the change is expected to only be temporary and not reflected in search engines
Click “Add forward” to finish adding the forward.
4. Wait and Test
- Adding DNS records can take 24-48 hours until taking full effect.
- Adding a URL forwarder requires the DNS records to take full effect so an SSL certificate can be generated, it can also take 24 hours until taking full effect.
- After creating both DNS records and URL forwarders, please wait 48 hours before testing.
- Please remember to clear DNS caches, web browser caches, and/or try on a different device or ISP before contacting support for assistance.
Important, for the secure URL Forwarding to work correctly:
- You must be using purely.websites’ nameservers.
- You must use the IP address 167.99.204.170 in your A records.
- You must Wait 24 hours for the DNS to propagate before adding the redirect.