What Is URL (Uniform Resource Locator)?

Why It Matters

URLs are the addresses of the web. Every redirect takes a source URL and maps it to a destination URL. Understanding URL structure helps you configure forwarding correctly — especially path forwarding and query string handling.

URL Structure

https://www.example.com:443/blog/post?id=42&ref=home#comments
└─┬──┘ └──┬───────────┘└┬┘ └───┬───┘ └────┬──────┘ └──┬───┘
scheme    host         port   path    query string  fragment

Technically, a URL is a specific type of URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) — one that specifies both the resource and how to locate it.

Component	Example	Purpose
Scheme	https://	Protocol (HTTP or HTTPS)
Host	www.example.com	Domain name + optional subdomain
Port	:443	Network port (usually omitted — 80/443 are default)
Path	/blog/post	Resource location on the server
Query string	?id=42&ref=home	Parameters (key=value pairs)
Fragment	#comments	Position within the page (client-side only)

URLs and Domain Forwarding

Forwarding Type	What Changes	Example
Domain-only	Domain changes, path dropped	old.com/anything → new.com
Path forwarding	Domain changes, path preserved	old.com/blog → new.com/blog
Wildcard	Subdomain + domain change	*.old.com → new.com
Full URL rewrite	Everything changes	old.com/page → new.com/different-page