Redirects send visitors and search engines from one URL to another. Use them when you change a page address, move to a new domain, or merge two sites. cPanel has a built-in tool that writes the rules for you.
Using the Redirects Tool
- In cPanel, open Redirects under the Domains section.
- Choose the type: Permanent (301) or Temporary (302).
- Pick the domain from the dropdown.
- In the box after the domain, type the path to redirect, such as
/old-page. - In Redirects to, enter the full destination URL, such as
https://yourdomain.com/new-page. - Choose whether to redirect with or without www.
- Click Add.
Permanent vs Temporary
- 301 Permanent: tells search engines the move is final and passes ranking value. Use this for renamed pages and domain moves.
- 302 Temporary: tells search engines the original will return. Use this for short campaigns or maintenance pages.
When in doubt for a real page move, choose 301.
Redirecting a Whole Domain
To send an old domain to a new one, add a wildcard redirect so every page maps across. Enable the "Redirect with or without www" option and tick Wild Card Redirect so oldsite.com/anything lands on newsite.com/anything.
Verifying the Redirect
Open a private browser window and visit the old URL. It should jump to the new address. You can also check the response code with a free header checker, where a healthy permanent redirect returns 301 Moved Permanently.
The tool stores these rules in your .htaccess file, so avoid adding conflicting redirect rules there by hand.