Crownpeak offers a redirect service that can be used to redirect domains to another domain. Below are some of the advantages of using the redirect service to consolidate domains for SEO purposes:
- SSL Cert is handled through Lets Encrypt and eliminates the need to manage certs for apex domains and retired domains. Certs are generated and renewed automatically.
- Addresses issues with apex domains and virtual hosting specific to AWS Elastic Load Balancers (ELB) which use CNAMES. Due to RFC restrictions, apex domains cannot be used with a CNAME.
- Eliminates adding domains to web.config, .htaccess, etc., which minimizes site risk.
Process to request a domain be added to the Crownpeak redirect service:
- Submit a ticket to support through the support portal with the source domain, destination domain and path, whether this should be a 301 or 302 redirect and whether the redirect should include the path and include params. Default settings are 301, path = false, params = false.
- Crownpeak will configure the redirect as requested. At no time will this impact the existing site.
- Crownpeak will notify the customer that the redirect has been configured.
- Client will then change DNS for the domain, setting up DNS to point to Crownpeak. See below for DNS Configuration Options.
- Once DNS is propagated, the redirect will be live.
DNS Configuration:
There are 2 options for updating your DNS.
Option 1 (Preferred) – CName or Alias:
If it is an apex redirect, and the DNS provider supports aliasing, then set an A-record alias to:
If it is a sub-domain then a CName can be used:
Option 2 – set the A-record for the domain to:
- 3.219.78.25
- 3.220.214.71
- 3.220.212.11
Examples:
mysite.com to https://www.mysite.com
Include Path = False
Include Params = False
Result any request to http://mysite.com/* or https://my site.com/* will resolve to https://www.mysite.com. The path will be dropped from the destination. i.e. https://mysite.com/mypath will redirect to https://www.mysite.com. Any querystring will also be dropped.
mysite.com to https://www.mysite.com
Include Path = True
Include Params = True
Result any request to http://mysite.com/ or https://my site.com/ will resolve to https://www.mysite.com. The path will be dropped from the destination. i.e. https://mysite.com/mypath will redirect to https://www.mysite.com/mypath. https://mysite.com/mypath?q=1 will redirect to https://www.mysite.com/mypath?q=1
Additional Notes:
- The redirect service can only redirect domains. It cannot redirect based on path, only include the current path in the destination url.
- Apex and www versions of the domain should be provided as two separate domains i.e. myoldsite.com and www.myoldsite.com will require 2 redirects to be created. They can be combined in the same request but should be noted accordingly.
- It is important to note the destination protocol http or https. It is not necessary to note the source protocol since it will support http and https requests.