Add a domain to an existing site

Primary domains, aliases and redirecting the www version.

A site can answer on several domains. One of them is primary; the rest either serve the same content or redirect to the primary.

Primary, alias, redirect

• Primary — the canonical address. It is what WordPress stores as the site URL and what appears in links and sitemaps.
• Alias — serves the same site on another domain without redirecting. Useful for a country variant that must stay in the address bar.
• Redirect — sends visitors to the primary with a 301. Use it for old domains, common misspellings and the non-preferred www form.

Add one

1. Open Domains on the site

   Choose Add domain and enter it without http://.

2. Pick its role

   Alias or redirect. You can change this later without re-issuing the certificate.

3. Point the DNS

   The same nameservers or records as the primary. The domain will not validate until it resolves to us.

4. Wait for SSL

   Each domain gets its own certificate entry. Redirects need one too, because the redirect happens over HTTPS.

Changing the primary domain

Switching primary rewrites the site URL in WordPress and adds a redirect from the old domain. Plan it outside business hours on a busy site, and re-submit the sitemap afterwards so search engines pick the new canonical up quickly.