How to Redirect a GoDaddy Domain with HTTPS

GoDaddy's built-in "Forward Domain" feature has two real problems: it doesn't issue an SSL certificate for the domain you're forwarding *from*, so browsers can show a security warning before the forward ever happens, and it often serves the forward through a frame or a temporary (302) redirect instead of a clean, permanent (301) one search engines fully credit. The fix is to point your domain at a real CNAME-based redirect instead of relying on GoDaddy's forwarding to do the whole job.

Why GoDaddy's built-in forwarding falls short

Three specific issues show up in practice:

• No SSL on the source domain. GoDaddy's forwarding doesn't provision a certificate for the domain you're redirecting away from. Since modern browsers automatically try HTTPS first, a visitor typing your domain can hit a certificate error before GoDaddy's forward ever fires.
• Framed (masked) forwarding. In "masking" mode, GoDaddy shows the destination content but keeps your original URL in the address bar via an iframe. That's invisible to a human at a glance, but it's not a real HTTP redirect — search engines don't treat it as a URL move, and it breaks bookmarking, sharing, and browser history in confusing ways.
• 302 instead of 301. Even when GoDaddy does issue a real redirect, it's frequently a 302 (temporary). For a permanent move — a rebrand, a domain change, an old URL retired for good — a 302 doesn't pass full link equity to the new destination the way a 301 does.

The fix: CNAME your www subdomain to a proper redirect service

This solves the problem completely for www.yourdomain.com, which is the version most visitors and links actually use:

1. Log into GoDaddy's DNS management for your domain.
2. Add a CNAME record: Host www, Value the target your redirect service gives you (in RedirectIQ, this appears in the dashboard once you add the domain), TTL default.
3. Add www.yourdomain.com in your redirect service's dashboard. SSL provisions automatically — usually within 10–20 minutes, no certificate request or renewal step on your end.
4. Set your redirect rule (301, destination, path passthrough if you want /old-page to land on the matching new path).

At this point www.yourdomain.com redirects correctly, with a valid certificate and a real 301 — no frame, no warning.

What about the bare domain (no www)?

GoDaddy — like almost every DNS provider except Cloudflare — doesn't allow a CNAME record at the apex (root) of a domain. That's a DNS specification limitation, not a GoDaddy bug, and it applies no matter which redirect service you use. Two options:

Option A — works today, one caveat. Keep GoDaddy's native "Domain Forwarding," but use it only for the apex-to-www hop: forward yourdomain.com → https://www.yourdomain.com (permanent, forward path). The caveat: that very first hop from the bare domain still has no valid certificate, so a browser that insists on https://yourdomain.com before following the forward can still show a warning. This is a limitation of keeping DNS on GoDaddy, not something any redirect service can patch around.

Option B — fixes it completely. Move DNS for the domain to Cloudflare's free plan, which supports CNAME flattening at the apex — meaning the bare domain itself can point directly at your redirect service with full HTTPS, no forwarding workaround needed. See how to redirect an apex domain on Cloudflare for the exact setup.

Verifying it worked

Use the free redirect checker to confirm: you should see a 301 status code, a valid HTTPS certificate, the correct final destination, and — if you enabled it — the original path preserved on the new URL.

RedirectIQ provisions and renews the SSL certificate automatically once you add the domain — no manual certificate requests, no renewal reminders to track. Start free →