Forwarding a Squarespace domain

Use domain forwarding to redirect your visitors to another site or page.

You can set up domain redirects to send traffic from one domain to a different site. With domain forwarding, you can redirect your Squarespace-managed domain to another URL of your choosing.

For example, if you have the domain yourdomain.com, you can use domain forwarding to direct traffic to yourdomain.net. This can be helpful to use the domain for a different site, but it’s not eligible for transfer.

When domain forwarding is enabled, visitors to your domain are automatically redirected to one of the following destinations:

• A root domain
• A subdomain
• A specific page

To forward your domain and all of your page URL slugs simultaneously, use path forwarding. This guide explains the different steps for forwarding an active domain, page or subdomain to another live destination.

To redirect an inactive site or page to one that’s active, visit URL mappings.

Tip: To redirect a domain to Big Cartel, SiteGround, SmugMug, Systeme.io or Zoho, follow our specific steps for pointing the domain instead of the steps in this guide.

Before you begin

• This guide explains how to forward a Squarespace-managed domain. To forward a domain or subdomain registered with a third party, follow your provider’s documentation.

• You can select whether a domain forward is a permanent or temporary change. Learn more about the difference in 301 vs. 302 redirects.

• It can take up to 72 hours for domain forwarding to update.

Understand if domain forwarding is right for you

Forwarding your domain is an advanced step that you might not need. Usually, you can use a different process to change where a domain or URL slug points. For a complete list of options, visit Choosing the right option for moving your domain.

Move your domain to a different Squarespace site

If you’re rebranding your business and creating a new site, you can move the domain from one site to another instead of forwarding the domain. The process of moving a domain to another Squarespace site involves fewer steps than domain forwarding because you don’t need to use a forwarding preset. Moving your domain also moves your domain subscription to the second site, letting you manage all relevant site subscriptions in one place.

To use a subdomain on the other site, create a subdomain after moving the root domain. You can then set the subdomain as the site’s primary domain.

Forward to a non-Squarespace site

You can forward a root domain or subdomain to a site outside of Squarespace. This is a good option if you’re merging multiple websites into one and want to direct the traffic from all of your sites to one destination. 

Tip: A root domain is the part of your site’s URL that comes after the “www”, and it includes the top-level domain (TLD), like ".com". For example, yourdomain.com is a root domain. A subdomain is an extension of the root domain name that forwards to your site, like blog.yoursite.com.

To forward a domain to a non-Squarespace site:

1. Open the Domains panel.
2. Click the root domain you're editing.
3. Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and select Add.
4. In the Forward Domain pop-up window, enter @ in the Forward from field.
5. Enter the full URL of the domain you’d like to forward to in the Forward to field.
6. Under Advanced Options, select if this move will be a Temporary redirect (302) or a Permanent redirect (301).
7. Under Forwarding over SSL, it's recommended to keep SSL On selected. To learn more, visit Understanding SSL certificates.
8. Click Save.

Note: It's not possible to forward a built-in domain.

Forward a subdomain or a specific page

Forwarding a subdomain is helpful to extend part of your brand, like a store or blog, onto a second site. You can forward either a root domain or a subdomain to a specific page. The page can be on the same site where the domain is currently connected or a different site.

Because a subdomain is an extension of an existing root domain, ensure that you add a forward with the site using the root domain. For example, to forward the subdomain blog.mysite.com, start by logging into the site that’s associated with the root domain, like mysite.com. 

Note: Ensure that the subdomain isn’t linked as a third-party domain in the Domains panel. 

Forward a subdomain

To forward a subdomain:

1. Open the Domains panel.
2. Click the root domain.
3. Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and select Add.
4. In the Forward Domain pop-up window, enter the name of the subdomain to forward, such as blog, in the Forward from field.
5. In the Forward to field, enter the full URL of the domain or page, including the specific page slug, you’d like to forward to.
6. Under Advanced Options, select if this move will be a Temporary redirect (302) or a Permanent redirect (301).
7. Under Forwarding over SSL, it's recommended to keep SSL On selected. To learn more, visit Understanding SSL certificates.
8. Click Save.

Forward a specific page

To forward to a specific page:

1. Open the Domains panel.
2. Click the root domain.
3. Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and select Add.
4. In the Forward Domain pop-up window, enter the name of the subdomain to forward, such as blog, in the Forward from field.
5. In the Forward to field enter the full page URL, including the specific page slug, in the Forward to field. For example, to forward the subdomain blog.exampledomain.net to yourdomain.com's blog page, enter the full URL for the blog page including the slug, www.yourdomain.com/blog.
6. Under Advanced Options, select if this move will be a Temporary redirect (302) or a Permanent redirect (301).
7. Under Forwarding over SSL, it's recommended to keep SSL On selected. To learn more, visit Understanding SSL certificates.
8. Click Save.

Note: If you’re forwarding a page or URL slug, keep the same capitalization as your URLs. If your page slugs are all lowercase, then your redirects should also be all lowercase.

 

Path forwarding

When the domain you’re forwarding to has the same URL structure as the current domain, you can save time by setting up bulk domain forwards using path forwarding. Path forwarding redirects your domain and all of its URL slugs to the new domain simultaneously without having to individually create domain forwards for each page.

For example, to forward all of your content from yourcurrentdomain.com to theupdateddomain.com, path forwarding redirects everything after the .com, like yourcurrentdomain.com/blog, to the forwarded domain.

This means when customers visit yourcurrentdomain.com/blog, they’ll be redirected to theupdateddomain.com/blog.

To enable path forwarding:

1. Open the Domains panel.
2. Click the root domain you're editing.
3. Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and select Add.
4. In the Forward Domain pop-up window, enter @ in the Forward from field.
5. Enter the full URL of the domain you’d like to forward to in the Forward to/strong field.
6. Under Advanced Options, select if this move will be a Temporary redirect (302) or a Permanent redirect (301).
7. Under Forwarding over SSL, it's recommended to keep SSL On selected. To learn more, visit Understanding SSL certificates.
8. Under Path Forwarding, select Forward path.
9. Click Save.

Remove domain forwarding

To remove domain forwarding:

1. Open the Domains panel.
2. Click the domain you're editing.
3. Under Domain Forwarding, select Set up.
4. In the Forward Domain pop-up window, click the red trash can next to the Forward domain field.

FAQ

Why isn’t my domain forwarding?

Because of the way browsers hold onto information, it may take some time for your domain to forward properly. To help speed up the process, check your forwarded domain using a private browsing window or clear your browser’s cache.

Can I edit the DNS records of my forwarded Squarespace domain?

It’s not possible to edit the DNS records of a Squarespace domain that's actively forwarding. As a workaround, follow these steps:

1. Temporarily remove domain forwarding from the Squarespace domain.
2. Open the domain’s DNS settings panel to edit the DNS records.
3. Save the changes, and re-add domain forwarding to your domain.