As a website developer, consultant and the owner of a hosting company, I know that migrating an existing website (and/or associated email service) from one domain to another is something that requires careful prior planning for a successful outcome. Both Twitter (X.com) and TecnoTur.LLC (previously TecnoTur.us) have been in the process of doing that for different reasons but confronting the exact same issues and priorities. Twitter changed its logo and name to «X» in 2023. Although Twitter immediately acquired and redirected the X.com domain to Twitter, it still hasn’t reversed that. At TecnoTur, we have not changed the logo but only the domain. Among the goals are not only to begin directing the old bare domain’s traffic to the new one (rather than doing the opposite, which TecnoTur did at first before and Twitter still does since X.com still redirects to the older Twitter.com), but also to assure that other web traffic behave the same as before. For example, the old traffic headed to a subpage like OldDomain.com/contact or OldDomain.com/article-name will automatically be directed to NewDomain.com/contact or NewDomain.com/article-name. This is both for human internauts who possess an old link and for continuing SEO ranking. After replicating the old website into the new one using search-and-replace for all internal links, the rest is accomplished using a tool or technique which in English is called a Wildcard Redirect and (in Castilian) Redirección comodín, which sounds a bit funny since the word comodín has several unrelated slang uses, depending upon the region.
Ways to accomplish a Wildcard Redirect for a domain
There are several ways to accomplish WildCard Redirect for domains. They include adding code to the .htaccess file, a setting in the cPanel or using a redirection plugin in WordPress. The last one can be appropriate if the original website was created in WordPress. Using a redirection plugin in WordPress can be much easier than adding code manually to a .htaccess file, but requires maintaining the old WordPress website for whatever duration is desired for the redirection to occur, although fortunately with many fewer other plugins required than for an active WordPress website. Over the years, I have used all three methods mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, depending upon the situation. The purpose of this article is not to delve deeply into each method or to review any particular plugin (I have used two such redirection plugins so far, each with different benefits and weaknesses), but to understand the preparations on a high level when planning such a transformation for a website, for whatever reason. Whether you work at Twitter (X.com) or a smaller organization, I hope this article will help in your planning.
Comments about the .LLC (top level domain)
The .LLC TLD (top level domain) is relatively new and officially shares two features with the .com TLD and two unique features.
Some common features in .LLC (compared with .com and .tv) are:
- Both the .LLC, .com and .tv allow for domain privacy, while the .us unfortunately does not.
- Both the .LLC and the .com allow for IDN accented domains (See AccentedDomains.com for more information and examples.), while the .us unfortunately does not. Although the .tv technically supports IDN domains, there is currently a terrible flaw in its implementation compared with other TLDs that support IDN domains which go beyond the scope of this article. If you work with the Government of Tuvalu and would like to fix it to make .tv domains work in a practical way with IDN (accented) domains, please contact me.
The unique features of the .LLC top level domain are:
- The .LLC is particularly attractive and cool for LLC companies, aka Limited Liability Companies.
- The .LLC is particularly attractive for people who speak, read or otherwise appreciate the Castilian (castellano) language (see SpeakCastilian.com and TheCastilianConspiracy.com), since it can also refer to the saying «Long Live Castilian».
FYI: Like other top-level domains, the .LLC is case insensitive (i.e. it works equally well if typed in any combination of upper and/or lowercase, without any exclusivity in domains), but I prefer to type .LLC with upper case to avoid confusion with some fonts, since the lower case version of the L can easily be confused with a different letter, the vowel «i».
Lee este artículo en buen castellano
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FTC disclosure
Twitter (X.com) did not pay for this article, nor did ICANN or the Government of Tivalu. Allan Tépper paid ful price for his X.com Premium account from his own funds. Allan Tépper is the director of TecnoTur.LLC and AccentedDomains.com is a service of TecnoTur.LLC. Allan Tépper and TecnoTur.LLC have paid full price for Twitter services and as of publication time of this article, there is no other financial relationship between Twitter (X.com) and TecnoTur.LLC. Some of the manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur, BeyondPodcasting, CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.