Troubleshooting URL forwarding
Last Updated: December 12, 2023
If you have set up URL forwarding on your domain name, but the forward isn’t working, there are a few things that may be causing the issue.
First, make sure that your domain name is using Name.com’s default nameservers. If you are using someone else’s nameservers, then the forwarding record will not work. To change your nameservers to our default ones, see our guide enabling default nameservers.
Second, make sure the forwarding record is set up correctly. On the URL forwarding page, make sure that the forward is on the bare domain name unless you are forwarding a particular sub domain. Our URL forwarding page does not use @ for the wildcard. Simply leave the Domain field blank to set up a wildcard.
In the Forwards to field, make sure you have put in the complete URL you are forwarding to, including “http://”. The best way to make sure you have the complete URL is to copy and paste the URL from the browser bar directly into the Forwards to field.
We can forward subdomains and domains, however, we do not support—nor have the ability to—forward anything after the domain, such as folders or /.
For example, we CAN forward "contact.domain.com" but we CANNOT forward "domain.com/contact."
Finally, if you are using Masked as the Type for you forward, be aware that not all servers allow masked forwards. This is typically for security reasons. If you are forwarding a URL to one owned by a different person or company, make sure their server allows masked forwarding, or ask if they have any requirements to allow the forward. Otherwise, change the Type to Redirect.
Note: You cannot forward a URL using HTTPS://. Because of how SSL and forwarding work you cannot forward or enforce HTTPS when forwarding a domain. i.e You cannot forward https://www.example.com to http://www.test.com. You can however forward http://www.example.com to https://www.test.com.
Note: URL forwarding is not possible on .APP, .DEV, and .PAGE domains because .APP, .DEV, and .PAGE require HTTPS, and this does not work with URL forwarding requests.
