Domain masking vs forwarding: why masking causes problems

Domain masking, also called forwarding with masking or URL cloaking, shows another website while your own domain stays in the address bar. It looks tidy, but it causes problems with search engines, HTTPS, logins and many websites that refuse to be shown this way. A normal redirect, or connecting the domain to the website directly, is almost always the better choice.

How masking works

With normal forwarding, the visitor’s browser is sent to the new address and shows it. With masking, the browser stays on your domain and loads a nearly empty page. That page contains one full-screen frame, and the frame loads the other website. Every click inside it happens in the frame, so the address bar never changes.

Why masking causes problems

Search engines do not credit your domain

The page your domain actually serves has almost no content of its own, just a frame. Search engines may or may not count the framed content as part of it, and the framed website also exists at its own address, which competes with yours. At best the result is uncertain, and every masked page shares the one home page address, so inner pages cannot rank under your domain at all. How redirects affect SEO.

Many websites refuse to be framed

Showing a site inside someone else’s page is an old trick for fake login pages, so many websites forbid it with a security setting. Social networks, banks, most online shops and many site builders do. The visitor then sees a blank page or a browser error instead of the site, and the site owner is the only one who can change it.

Logins, carts and cookie banners break

Browsers treat the framed site as a third party on your domain. Safari and Firefox block or isolate its cookies by default, so visitors can be logged out on every click, lose their basket, or see the cookie banner again and again. Payment pages often refuse to load in a frame at all.

HTTPS needs to work twice

The masking page on your domain needs its own valid certificate, and the framed site needs one too. If either is missing, visitors see a security warning, or the browser silently refuses to show the frame. Many registrars’ masking only works over http://. Why HTTPS matters for redirects.

Every link points to the home page

The address bar never changes, so a visitor who shares or bookmarks a product page actually shares your home page. Back and forward buttons and analytics also get confused, because the browser only sees one address.

What to do instead

• Your domain should be the main address of the site: connect it to the website directly. Website builders and hosts let you add your own domain, and then it stays in the address bar on every page, with HTTPS, without a frame.
• Your domain should lead visitors to a site somewhere else: use a normal redirect. The address bar shows where visitors end up, which is also what they expect after clicking a link. Choose a 301 when the move is permanent. How domain forwarding works.
• You want a short or branded link that shows your domain first: visitors see it on the flyer, the ad or in the link itself, before they click. Path sources such as example.com/podcast let one domain carry many of these. Redirecting specific paths.

Why Redirect Ninja does not offer masking

Redirect Ninja only sends real redirects. Masking would break on many of the destinations our customers use, and it would work against the reason most people redirect a domain: keeping visitors and search rankings. If you are moving away from masking at your registrar, turn it off there first, then set up the redirect. How to redirect a domain to another domain.

Related guides

• How to redirect a domain to another domain
• Redirect an old domain to a new one: SEO checklist
• Do redirects hurt SEO?