In an earlier post on domain forwarding, Savitha had pointed out why one would need such a service. Once you read that article you will realize that URL redirection is more of a necessity than an optional add-on in today’s competitive market. It is all about being found on the web – and being found ahead of your competitors! You can never afford to take a chance and lose potential customers due to a “hard-to-remember” URL or typos/spelling errors in the URL.

Domain forwarding is known by different names in the industry. While URL redirection and web forwarding are common variants, domain aliasing, domain mirroring, frame redirection and domain repointing are other names of this service that are lesser known.

Domain registrars and hosting companies often offer web forwarding along with their domain registration package. Such free services are useful but usually come with pop-ups or banner ads that have to be displayed on your website. Using these kinds of services may not be complementary to your company’s brand image. However, there are companies that provide professional web forwarding service with a variety of features. They provide different mechanisms for forwarding domain names.

URL redirection can be done:

  • without masking
  • with masking

Forwarding without masking: When a user types in a web address into his browser address bar, he expects to be taken to that web page. However, through URL redirection you can take him to a different web page. When forwarding is achieved without masking, the user sees the web page to which he has been forwarded to and his browser displays the new URL in the place of what he actually typed. Thus, when you type in www.google.net you will see the Google homepage and your browser address bar will show www.google.com.

Forwarding with masking: When domain forwarding is done with masking, the user does not realize that forwarding has occurred. The browser address bar will still display the URL that he typed in. For example, if someone types www.youandme.com the web page loading might be www.u&me.com but the browser address bar will continue to read as www.youandme.com.

Domain forwarding with masking avoids confusion to users and is often the preferred mechanism.  Nevertheless, sometimes companies may opt for redirection without masking as it helps to build a brand name.