How to Redirect a Namecheap Domain with HTTPS

Namecheap's URL Redirect Record is better than some registrars' native forwarding — it has a genuine "Permanent (301)" option, not just a masked frame. What it doesn't do is provision an SSL certificate for the domain you're redirecting *away from*, so a visitor whose browser tries HTTPS first can still hit a certificate warning before the redirect ever runs. The fix is the same one that works everywhere: point the domain at a real CNAME-based redirect service instead of relying on Namecheap's redirect record alone.

Why the URL Redirect Record isn't a full fix

Two things to know before you rely on it:

• No certificate on the source domain. Namecheap's own documentation for the URL Redirect Record doesn't cover SSL at all — because it doesn't issue one. If someone types yourdomain.com and their browser tries https:// first (which is standard now), that request can fail before Namecheap's redirect fires, independent of which redirect type you picked.
• "Masked" mode uses a frame. If you pick Masked instead of Permanent (301) or Unmasked, Namecheap serves the destination inside a frame while keeping your original URL in the address bar. That's not a real HTTP redirect — search engines don't credit it as a URL move, and it breaks bookmarking and sharing.

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

This fully resolves www.yourdomain.com, which is what most visitors and links actually use:

1. In Namecheap, go to Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS.
2. Click Add New Record, select CNAME Record, set Host to www, Value to the target your redirect service gives you (in RedirectIQ, this shows up in the dashboard once you add the domain), TTL Automatic.
3. Add www.yourdomain.com in your redirect service's dashboard. SSL provisions automatically — no certificate request or renewal on your end.
4. Set your redirect rule (301, destination, path passthrough if /old-page should land on the matching new path).

What about the bare domain (no www)?

CNAME records can't point the apex/root of a domain — that's a DNS specification limit, not specific to Namecheap. You have two options, and Namecheap actually gives you a cleaner one than most registrars:

Option A — works today, one caveat. Keep Namecheap's native URL Redirect Record for the apex only: set it to forward yourdomain.com → https://www.yourdomain.com, Permanent (301). The caveat is the same as above — that first hop from the bare domain has no certificate, so a browser insisting on https://yourdomain.com before following the redirect can still show a warning.

Option B — fixes it completely, no DNS migration needed. Check Advanced DNS for an ALIAS Record option on your domain (availability can depend on your plan or TLD). Unlike a CNAME, an ALIAS record can sit at the apex, and it resolves the same way for this purpose — point it at your redirect service's target and the bare domain gets full HTTPS with no forwarding workaround. This is the one real advantage Namecheap has over GoDaddy here: GoDaddy doesn't offer an apex ALIAS option, so the only complete fix there is moving DNS to Cloudflare. If Namecheap doesn't show ALIAS for your domain, Cloudflare's CNAME flattening is the fallback.

Verifying it worked

Use the free redirect checker to confirm: a 301 status code, a valid HTTPS certificate, the correct final destination, and the original path preserved if you enabled passthrough.

RedirectIQ provisions and renews the SSL certificate automatically once you add the domain. Start free →