All posts

What’s the difference between domain forwarding and masking?

March 21, 20231 min read

Domain forwarding (sometimes called connecting, pointing or redirecting) lets you automatically direct your domain’s visitors to a different location on the web. This can be done within the DNS settings of the registrar hosting your website. You can forward your domain to a site you’ve created with Wix, WordPress or any other URL.

Domain forwarding has two options: forwarding only and forwarding with masking. Both options will redirect your visitors, but forwarding with masking has additional features you can use.

Forwarding only

  • Redirects visitors to a destination URL of your choosing
  • Keeps the destination URL in the browser address bar

Example: Assign coolexample.com to forward only to coolwebsite.net. When a visitor types coolexample.com in a browser address bar, they will be redirected to the site for coolwebsite.net. The browser address bar will update to show coolwebsite.net.

Forwarding with masking

  • Redirects visitors to a destination URL of your choosing
  • Keeps your domain name in the browser address bar
  • Allows you to enter meta-tags for search engine information

Example: Assign coolexample.com to forward with masking to coolwebsite.net. When a visitor types coolexample.com in a browser address bar, they will be redirected to the site for coolwebsite.net. The browser address bar will continue to show coolexample.com, effectively masking the destination URL.

Ready to fund your education?

Create your campaign in minutes, share it with the people who believe in you, and reach your goal — debt-free.