TL;DR: Have an old domain that should redirect to your Shopify store? Use Domain-Forward.com (free plan) to set up 301 redirects with HTTPS. Preserves your old domain’s SEO, takes 5 minutes, no hosting needed.
You migrated your store to Shopify. Or you rebranded and got a new domain. Or you acquired a competitor’s domain. The old domain still has backlinks, Google rankings, and bookmarked customers. If you let it die, you’re losing all of that traffic.
You don’t need to connect this domain to Shopify. You need to redirect it. A 301 redirect sends visitors (and search engines) from the old domain to your Shopify store, preserving whatever SEO value the old domain has.
Redirect vs. Connect: When to Do What
| Scenario | Action |
|---|---|
| Your primary store domain (where you want Shopify to serve) | Connect it to Shopify in Settings → Domains |
| An old domain from before your rebrand | Redirect to your Shopify domain |
| A competitor domain you acquired | Redirect to your store |
| A vanity domain for a marketing campaign | Redirect to a specific product or collection |
| A typo domain (common misspelling) | Redirect to your store |
Shopify’s built-in domain management handles your primary domain. Domain Forward handles the old/secondary domains that need to redirect TO your store.
The Fix: Redirect With Domain-Forward.com
Domain-Forward.com gives you:
- 301 permanent redirects — pass SEO value to your Shopify store
- Automatic SSL — HTTPS works on the old domain
- Path forwarding —
old.com/products/item→yourstore.com/products/item - Analytics — see how much traffic the old domain still gets
- Free plan — 5 domains, no credit card
Step 1: Get your Shopify store URL
Your target URL is your primary Shopify domain:
https://yourstore.comOr for a specific collection/product:
https://yourstore.com/collections/summer-saleStep 2: Create your free account
Sign up at Domain-Forward.com.
Step 3: Add your redirect
- Source domain: Your old domain (add both root and
www) - Destination URL: Your Shopify store URL
- Redirect type: 301 (permanent)
- Path forwarding: Enable if URL structures match
Step 4: Update DNS on the old domain
At the registrar holding the OLD domain, update DNS:
| Record Type | Host | Value |
|---|---|---|
| A | @ (root) | 138.68.125.144 |
| CNAME | www | edge.domain-forward.com |
Important: Don’t change DNS on your primary Shopify domain — only on the old domain you’re redirecting FROM.
For registrar-specific guides: GoDaddy, Namecheap, Hostinger, Bluehost, IONOS.
Step 5: Wait and test
DNS propagation: 1-4 hours. SSL certificate provisioning happens automatically.
Test: Visit your old domain in a browser. You should be 301-redirected to your Shopify store. Verify with our redirect tester tool.
Common Shopify Redirect Scenarios
You rebranded your store
Old domain: coolwidgets.com → New Shopify domain: widgetbrand.com
Redirect the old domain to preserve years of backlinks and customer bookmarks. Keep it running permanently.
You acquired a competitor
You bought competitor.com. Their traffic should flow to your store:
competitor.com → yourstore.com
Their backlinks now benefit your store’s SEO.
Marketing campaign vanity URLs
You ran ads with summer-sale.com. The campaign is over, but the link still circulates:
summer-sale.com → yourstore.com/collections/sale
Multiple TLD variants
You own yourbrand.com, yourbrand.co, yourbrand.shop. Only one is your primary Shopify domain. Redirect the others:
yourbrand.co→yourbrand.comyourbrand.shop→yourbrand.com
Don’t Let Old Domains Send Traffic to a Dead Page
Every day your old domain isn’t redirecting, you’re losing visitors and SEO value. Those customers clicking old bookmarks, those backlinks passing authority — it’s all going nowhere.
The fix takes 5 minutes: create your free account, add your old domain, point it at your Shopify store, update DNS. Automatic HTTPS, proper 301s, analytics to see remaining traffic. Email stays working — only web traffic records change. For more on preserving SEO through a domain change, see our domain migration guide.