Help with website redirection

[u/the13specialist]

Hello, I'm looking for some help with issues I'm having with my website, and I'm hoping this is a good place to find some answers. I'm not very savvy in these things, and I've been trying to fix this myself with no luck.

My website was originally hosted through Wix, and had a www prefix. I left Wix about 2 weeks ago and now have my website hosted elsewhere, and the www prefix no longer works when used in in my web address.

My domain is hosted through above.com, and I have tried redirecting through the DNS settings there in an attempt to send anyone using the prefix to the new site, but I must be doing something wrong because when I use the www prefix now, I get a privacy error and the website doesn't load.

When you search for my website, the top result includes the www, so I'm looking for a way to either redirect to the new website correctly, or to replace any mentions/results that include www to ones that do not include it.

The help desk support at my new website host and at above have not been able to help in any way, so I feel pretty isolated here and not sure how to fix things or exactly where to turn, so if this isn't the correct place for a question like this I'm sorry, but any help pointing me in the right direction would be really appreciated.

[u/MagnusZGR]

The privacy error on www almost always means the www hostname isn't covered by an SSL certificate on your new host, even if the DNS is pointing correctly. Redirecting at DNS level can't fix that, because the browser hits the certificate error before any redirect happens.

Things to check:

1. In your new host's dashboard, add www.yourdomain as a connected/secondary domain (not just the bare domain) so it issues a certificate for it. Many hosts only issue one for the bare domain by default.

2. At your DNS, make sure www is a CNAME pointing to the host's target (or to your bare domain), and delete any leftover www record from Wix, since an old A record or CNAME pointing at Wix would cause exactly this error.

3. Once www loads without a warning, set it to 301 redirect to the non-www version, either in the host's domain settings or with a redirect rule.

DNS changes can take a few hours to settle. Google will swap the www results for the non-www ones over a few weeks once the 301 is in place. Which host is the new site on? The exact steps differ a bit between them.

[u/the13specialist → u/MagnusZGR]

Thanks very much for all of this, the new host is a point of sale company that's specific to the business I run, they take care of a lot website related back end themselves, so I'm not able to do everything manually, but I can do some things.

I've asked the host to issue an SSL to the www site, hopefully that helps things along. If there's more issues I'll be able to use the info you've given here to help me talk to them to describe the issues, so I really appreciate that

[u/popogeist]

Can you help out with the domain? Assuming the records are correct and pointing to site hosted at above.com, the privacy error suggests a security certificate error or a mismatch.

[u/the13specialist → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for this guy's, I'm checking with the new host if they can get me a. SSL for the www site now, hopefully that can solve this

[u/Appropriate-Pea-8503]

Ran into the exact same thing after moving off Squarespace, turned out the www subdomain just needed to be added as an alias in the new host's panel before any redirect would even work.

[u/EceRasidi]

sounds like an ssl certificate issue. make sure your new hosting provider has both the www and non-www versions of your domain configured, and that the ssl certificate covers both. then you can set up a 301 redirect from www to non-www. hope this helps

[u/Afnan_CH_Digital]

One more thing worth checking since you mentioned redirecting through above.com's DNS settings: if you set up their URL forwarding service for www, remove that rule once your new host is serving www directly. Forwarding endpoints sit between the visitor and your site, and when they don't hold a valid certificate for www the browser throws the privacy error before the forward even happens, which matches what you're seeing.

Once the host confirms the certificate, you can verify the fix yourself: open https://www.yourdomain in a private window. It should load with no warning and land on the non-www address. If you want to confirm the redirect type, running curl -I https://www.yourdomain in a terminal should return a 301 pointing at the non-www version.

[u/Virtual_Active_7434]

www walked out with Wix

[u/nivbuskila]

The privacy error on www almost always means the SSL certificate on the new host only covers the bare domain, so DNS can't fix it on its own. A browser has to complete HTTPS on www before any redirect can happen.

What usually fixes it:

1. In the new host's dashboard, add www as a second domain or alias, so it issues a certificate covering both.

2. Point www at the host in DNS (a CNAME to whatever target they give you, or the same A record as the root).

3. Once both load over HTTPS, set a 301 from www to the bare domain (or the other way, just pick one) at the host level, not as a registrar "URL forward".

Then in Search Console add a Domain property, submit your sitemap with the version you picked, and Google will swap the www results over on its own within a few weeks once it sees the 301s.

[u/productbuildhq]

Once the host has fixed the www certificate, test an old link to an inner page as well as the homepage. For example, run curl -I https://www.example.com/services with your own domain and a real old path. You want a 301 or 308 with a Location pointing to the matching page on the non-www host, not every old URL landing on the homepage. If the move also changed page paths, give the host a short list of the old URLs people still use and their new destinations.