Addon Domains and Aliases

Note: An alias or addon domain can only be added if the domain name is already registered first.

What are aliases and addon domains?

An alias is a special domain name configuration that will allow a secondary domain name (called an alias) to display the same website as the first domain (called the main domain). Aliases can also use redirections so that the domain name in the browser's address bar is explicitly changed to your main domain. This is recommended to avoid being potentially penalized for content duplication by Google and other search engines. Aliases are the right choice if you have registered multiple domains that you would like linked to the same website.

An addon domain allows you to actually host an entirely separate website on the same account. Your addon domain can have its own email addresses, statistics and FTP accounts, but shares a single cPanel login. Addon domains are great for users managing multiple websites, but are not recommended for websites with heavy usage or for websites that need to be managed by someone other than the primary account holder.

Addon domains are not available with the Starter hosting package; consider upgrading to the Pro hosting if this is a feature you need.

How to add an alias

Before adding an alias, you will need:

  1. An active Web Hosting plan (PRO or greater) for your main website
  2. A registered Domain name (with us or another registrar) to be used as the addon domain
  3. Point your domain to our nameservers

Then, to create an alias:

  1. Log in to your cPanel (see How to access cPanel), under the Domains category, click on Domains
  2. Click on Create A New Domain
  3. Enter the Alias you would like to add
  4. Check the box next to Share document root
  5. Click Submit
  6. Once added, it is recommended to create a redirection towards your main domain in order to avoid penalties in Search Engines caused by content duplication. You may configure a redirection by returning to the Domains screen in cPanel, then click Manage on your Domain, followed by Modify the Redirects. There, enter the full URL (including the https://) of your main domain and click Add

How to add an addon domain?

Before adding an addon domain, you will need:

  1. An active Web Hosting plan (PRO or greater) for your main website
  2. A registered Domain name (with us or another registrar) to be used as the addon domain
  3. Point your domain to our nameservers

Addon domains are not available with all packages; contact us if you do not see this option and would like to upgrade to a hosting package that supports Addon domains.

Then, to create an addon domain:

  1. Log in to your cPanel (see How to access cPanel)under the Domains category, click on Domains
  2. Click on Create A New Domain
  3. Enter the domain name you would like to add, there's no need to enter "www" before the domain name
  4. The Subdomain and Document Root fields will automatically fill up with recommended values based on your selected domain name, and we recommend you keep these default values.
  5. Click Submit and you are done! In certain cases, a short propagation delay will be required before the new domain is functional

Once your addon domain is working properly, you can publish its content either by connecting directly to its own FTP account (created automatically when you create the addon domain) or by connecting to the main FTP account and placing all your addon site's files in the new folder that was created for your addon domain.

 

Article ID: #HC5050

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