Choosing or changing your primary domain

Your primary domain is the main public address Cedros uses for your site. Choose the address you want customers to bookmark and share, such as example.com. This guide explains how to change that address on a managed site or through the single Domain name setting.

Add and prepare the new domain before making it primary. If it is not connected yet, start with Connecting a domain you already own or Buying or transferring a domain through Cedros.

Understand what changes

The primary domain is your site’s preferred public URL. Cedros uses it for generated links and to recognize the addresses used by sign-in and other site connections.

Your setup	What changing the primary address does
Managed by Cedros Domains	Updates the site's primary address and managed website routing. Attached, active alternate hostnames redirect to the primary address over HTTPS, preserving the requested path and query string.
A single Domain card with Domain name and Server target	Updates the public address Cedros uses. Your host or server administrator must also arrange website routing, certificates, and redirects for the old and new addresses.

For example, if old-example.com remains an active attached domain on a managed site and you make new-example.com primary, a request for https://old-example.com/contact?source=card redirects to https://new-example.com/contact?source=card.

That redirect does not rename pages. If you also change /contact to a different path, the domain switch alone does not supply the page-level redirect.

Changing the primary domain does not register a new name, transfer ownership, cancel a registration, publish draft content, or rename mailboxes. It also does not rewrite addresses you typed into page content, menus, email signatures, or another service's settings.

Prepare the new address

Before switching:

• Confirm the site and domain. Use a domain you control and intend to keep renewed. Record the current primary address so you can identify or restore it later.
• Finish connection and verification. In a managed domain list, wait for Active. A registered domain can still have pending DNS or HTTPS.
• Check the exact hostnames. example.com and www.example.com are different addresses. In the standard managed setup for example.com, both its main hostname and www.example.com need working HTTPS before it can become primary.
• Keep the old address working. Leave its registration, DNS, and HTTPS in place during the transition. A redirect cannot work if visitors can no longer reach the old address.
• Review services tied to the old URL. If you use an external sign-in provider, payments, webhooks, embedded forms, or a custom app, have the person who manages that integration check its allowed domains and callback or return URLs before switching.

A new managed domain can redirect to your current primary while you prepare it. That alone does not mean setup failed: adding a domain and choosing it as primary are separate actions. Use the domain's DNS and HTTPS status as well as browser checks.

For a managed site, choose from the domains actually listed. Do not add www as a separate domain just to reverse the standard root-domain redirect. If you specifically need www.example.com as the primary address and it is not offered as a ready domain, confirm the supported setup with Cedros support first.

Change the primary domain on a managed site

You need permission to manage the site's domains. Seeing the list or having billing access does not by itself establish that you can change the primary address.

From the site's admin

1. Open Settings → Site → Domains and find Managed by Cedros Domains.
2. Locate the intended domain. Confirm it belongs to this site and shows Active.
3. Select Make primary on that domain's row. This applies the change; it is not a draft or preview action.
4. Wait for the success message, then confirm the Primary badge moved to the intended domain.
5. Reopen the domain list and follow the checks below before sharing the new address.

Make primary appears for an active domain that is not already primary. If the row says Pending or Needs attention, use Check setup when available and resolve its DNS or HTTPS issue first.

From your Cedros account Portal

1. Open Domains, find the domain in Your domains, and select its Manage control.
2. If Site using this domain appears, choose the correct site. Confirm the domain is active and not already marked Primary.
3. Select Make primary.
4. Wait for the confirmation and refreshed list. Check that the intended domain now has the Primary badge.
5. Open the site at its new address and complete the verification checklist below.

The Portal offers this action when your account has site-management access. A domain connected at another registrar may direct you to the site's settings for its DNS setup; that does not require transferring its registration.

Selecting Make primary does not remove the previous domain. Active, verified domains attached to the managed site remain in its routing configuration. The included Cedros address is retained too and redirects when it is an alternate address.

Change the single Domain name setting

Use these steps if Settings → Site → Domains shows a Domain card instead of a managed portfolio.

This field saves automatically. Prepare the new address with your host before editing it. The setting does not perform the managed flow's readiness check for you.

1. Ask your host or server administrator to route the new hostname to this Cedros site, prepare HTTPS, and plan redirects from the old address. Keep a working way to reach the admin during the change.
2. Open Settings → Site → Domains. Note the existing Domain name and Server target.
3. Replace Domain name with the complete intended hostname, such as example.com, without a page path. This card manages one public domain.
4. Leave Server target pointing at the hosting destination supplied by your host unless the hosting destination is also changing. It is the destination used to build DNS instructions, not another field for the preferred public name.
5. Allow the automatic save to finish and check for an error. Reopen the settings and confirm the saved Domain name.
6. Verify the new address, the old-address redirects, and the customer flows below.

Changing Domain name does not itself apply the generated DNS records. Use Connecting Cloudflare to manage your DNS or Setting up a domain with another DNS provider when DNS changes are needed.

If you need several hostnames to keep serving or redirecting to this site, coordinate that with your host. Replacing the single field is not a way to retain an alternate-domain list.

Verify the change as a customer

Check the saved setting and the public website separately. A success message is not a complete launch check.

Check	Expected result
Primary setting	The managed list marks the intended domain Primary, or the Domain card retains the intended saved hostname.
New address	The exact HTTPS address opens without a certificate warning and reaches your Cedros site.
Old address and www	Each address you intend to retain reaches the new primary as planned. Managed redirects preserve the path and query string; self-managed redirects need equivalent host configuration.
Important pages	Test several existing links, including a page other than the homepage. They reach the corresponding published pages.
Sign-in and customer actions	Sign-in, forms, booking, and other features you use work from the new domain. Check checkout navigation without placing an unintended order.
Generated and manually entered links	Newly generated links use the intended public address. Review links you entered yourself and any explicit canonical URL overrides.
Email	Existing mailboxes still send and receive. A website-domain switch is not a mailbox migration.

Use a separate browser profile or private window for the visitor checks. You may need to sign in again on the new hostname; do not assume an existing session follows you across domains.

Update the links you control: navigation or page buttons containing the full old address, social profiles, advertisements, printed-material destinations, and external service settings. Already-sent messages and bookmarks retain their original URLs, so keep the old-domain redirects available.

If this is a public site moving to a different domain, have your SEO administrator review the sitemap, canonical URLs, and Search Console migration steps. Google recommends testing old-to-new URL redirects, updating internal links, and monitoring both sites; search results can take time to reflect the move. Follow Google's site-move guide.

Fix a blocked or incomplete change

Make primary is missing

Check whether the domain already has the Primary badge, whether it is Active, and whether you have domain-management access. If you only see the single Domain card, use that card's instructions above.

Do not change another site's domain or buy the name again to make a missing control appear. Ask your site administrator to confirm access if the settings are read-only.

Cedros says the domain must be active or HTTPS is not ready

Confirm that the domain belongs to the intended site. Review Check setup in managed settings, or Re-check DNS and HTTPS where offered in Portal.

Check the main hostname and its required www alias. A working homepage on one hostname does not prove that both have valid certificates. Resolve the displayed record or HTTPS issue, then retry once the domain is ready. See Connecting a domain you already own.

The update failed or the badge and browser disagree

Read the exact error, refresh the list, and test both addresses before repeating the action. A failed response is not proof that every part of the change was rolled back.

If the managed update reports that the site did not accept its domain update, contact Cedros support with the old and intended primary domains, site, time, and error. Keep both domains connected while the state is checked.

If one browser still follows the old route, compare with a private window or separate browser. Managed aliases use permanent redirects, which browsers can remember; repeatedly changing the primary address can make diagnosis harder. Ask your host to inspect conflicting redirects if there is a loop or the wrong destination.

You need to switch back

On a managed site, if the previous domain is still attached, active, and HTTPS-ready, select Make primary for that domain and repeat the verification checklist. This is another live change.

For the single Domain card, coordinate the reversal with your host, restore the previous hostname, and confirm that routing, certificates, redirects, and integration settings agree with it.

Do not detach or let the old domain expire as part of testing a reversal. Domain registration and renewal are separate from which address is primary.

If you cannot reach the admin or safely restore the address, use Getting help and reporting a problem. Include the two hostnames, the affected page URLs, what the browser does, the exact message, and when the switch occurred. Leave passwords and access tokens out of screenshots.