Managing Your Custom Domains

As your business grows, you may need to connect multiple domains to your store. For example, you might use different domains for different markets or campaigns, maintain brand variations, or secure alternative domain extensions (such as .com, .net, or regional domains) to protect your brand and capture more traffic.

SHOPLINE allows you to connect up to 20 custom domains to your store. Among all connected domains, only one domain can be set as the primary domain at any time, and the first custom domain you connect is automatically set as the primary domain.

This article explains how the primary domain and additional custom domains work, how to switch the primary domain, and how to configure primary domain redirection settings.

Understanding Primary and Additional Domains

Primary Domain

The primary domain is the official and authoritative address of your store. It represents your brand and is the domain you want customers and search engines to recognize as your main website.

All SEO value, search indexing, and brand consistency are typically centered on the primary domain. This ensures that traffic, rankings, and domain authority are consolidated rather than split across multiple domains.

Additional Domains

Additional domains refer to other custom domains connected to your store. They are commonly used for marketing campaigns, regional markets, alternative domain extensions (such as .net or country-specific domains), or brand protection.

Depending on your configuration, additional domains can either redirect traffic to the primary domain or remain accessible independently. Proper configuration helps prevent traffic fragmentation and maintains SEO stability.

Connecting Additional Custom Domains

You can connect multiple custom domains to your store (up to 20 domains). To add another domain:

1. Go to Settings > Domains, then click Add a domain.

   

2. Follow the domain connection process to complete the setup.

   

For detailed instructions on domain connection, DNS configuration, and binding, refer to "Connecting a Custom Domain to SHOPLINE."

Switching Your Primary Domain

If you have connected multiple domains, you can change the primary domain at any time. To switch the primary domain:

1. Go to Settings > Domains, locate the domain you want to set as the primary domain, then click Switch.

   

2. In the pop-up window, select Set as primary domain, then click Switch to confirm.

   

The selected domain will become the new primary domain.

Configuring Domain Redirection

When multiple custom domains are connected to your store, you can control how traffic is routed between them.

SHOPLINE provides two types of domain redirection settings:

• Primary domain redirection: A global setting that determines whether all additional domains automatically redirect to the primary domain. Use primary domain redirection when you want to consolidate all traffic under a single official domain.
• Custom domain redirections: A domain-level setting that allows you to redirect one specific domain to another. Use custom domain redirections when you need selective routing between specific domains.

For detailed instructions on configuring these settings, refer to "Setting Up Domain Redirections."

Best Practices for Managing Custom Domains

• Maintain one clear primary domain for consistency.
• Enable automatic redirection to the primary domain unless you have a specific reason not to.
• Avoid allowing multiple domains to remain accessible without redirection.
• Plan carefully when switching primary domains to maintain SEO stability.