{"id":263,"date":"2024-04-11T19:41:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T14:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/?p=263"},"modified":"2024-04-11T20:23:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T14:53:25","slug":"what-is-url-masking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/what-is-url-masking\/","title":{"rendered":"What is URL Masking?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/URL-masking.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-268\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table of Contents<\/h2><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#what-url-redirects-are\">What URL Redirects Are<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#what-url-masking-is\">What URL Masking Is<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#alternatives-to-url-masking\">Alternatives to URL Masking<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#when-to-mask-a-url\">When to Mask a URL<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#advantages-of-url-masking\">Advantages of URL Masking<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#disadvantages-of-url-masking\">Disadvantages of URL Masking<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#url-masking-can-create-a-poor-user-experience\">URL Masking Can Create a Poor User Experience<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#how-to-mask-a-url\">How to Mask a URL\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>URL masking, also known as link cloaking, falls under the umbrella of\u00a0URL redirects.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-url-redirects-are\">What URL Redirects Are<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>URL redirection sends your domain visitors to another, alternate, destination URL. URL redirects are categorized according to\u00a0HTTP protocol, which makes up the framework of any data transferred on the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three main types of URL redirects:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>301 (permanent)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>302 (found\/moved temporarily)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>URL frame (masked)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>301 permanent redirect\u00a0<\/strong>is used when the destination URL of any webpage has changed. It\u2019s often used when URL structure changes or a website needs to be migrated to a new domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>302 temporary redirect\u00a0<\/strong>directs traffic to a new URL for a brief period. Developers use the 302 redirects for A\/B testing or to maintain a consistent website experience while pages are being fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you migrate a website to a new domain, the new domain doesn\u2019t have\u00a0search engine optimization\u00a0(SEO) authority. A 301 permanent redirect will give 90% of the old website authority to the new domain\u00a0eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google needs to verify the new website, which causes a delay as the new domain is reranked. Some webmasters use 302 redirects for migration in hopes of avoiding Google\u2019s aging delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the 301 redirect is the correct method to use if the new destination URL is permanent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-url-masking-is\">What URL Masking Is<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Both 301 and 302 redirects display the new destination URL in the address bar. A\u00a0masked redirect\u00a0empowers you to use content from another domain while keeping your original domain name in the address bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: Find and\u00a0register a domain name today<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You use the URL of your homepage (your domain name) as the URL for every page of your website. A masked redirect is also called URL cloaking or domain masking.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mask (or cloak) refers to how the URL in the address bar isn\u2019t the actual URL of the content on the page. So, your user thinks they are on one domain when they\u2019re really on another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While using a URL mask offers some benefits, it\u2019s not always the best experience for your users. Link masking can be used for various reasons, including to hide referral links and even for website migration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"alternatives-to-url-masking\">Alternatives to URL Masking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>URL masking presents several\u00a0user experience\u00a0(UX) and SEO problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several options you can take advantage of to increase your website\u2019s ranking and performance, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Manage separate domains and create links between them<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combine content onto one domain and permanently redirect old links<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use\u00a0canonical links\u00a0to avoid being penalized for\u00a0duplicate content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use a URL shortening service provider to beautify long URLs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"when-to-mask-a-url\">When to Mask a URL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are situations when a\u00a0website owner\u00a0or developer might want to mask a link, including:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Masking affiliate links.\u00a0<\/strong>Some website visitors don\u2019t trust affiliate links because they know you will make money off their purchase. So, some people use link cloaking to hide their affiliate links.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Link shortening\/beautification.\u00a0<\/strong>Long, complicated links aren\u2019t appealing. Some website owners shorten their links with URL masking instead of changing their domain name or URL schema.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hiding free\u00a0web hosting\u00a0URLs.\u00a0<\/strong>When you use free web hosting services, your website lives on the company\u2019s subdomain. You don\u2019t get to use your own domain. Some free web hosting customers use domain masking to make it appear as if their website has its own domain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increased tracking.\u00a0<\/strong>Some link tracking software uses URL masking to conceal tracking tags in the original URL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"advantages-of-url-masking\">Advantages of URL Masking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The main reason to use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squarebrothers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">URL masking<\/a> is to hide an undesirable destination URL. In the above examples, you can see that affiliate links, long URLs, and\u00a0subdomains\u00a0aren\u2019t the best URLs to have in an address bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, URL masking is used to hide elements such as affiliate IDs and tracking tags that could potentially turn off users. By masking the URL, website owners hope to increase visits, engagement, and conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, when it comes to overall user experience, the disadvantages of URL masking often outweigh the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"disadvantages-of-url-masking\">Disadvantages of URL Masking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>URL masking creates UX issues that can harm your website authority and\u00a0SEO\u00a0ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"url-masking-can-create-a-poor-user-experience\">URL Masking Can Create a Poor User Experience<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>If you conceal the true destination URL, you create a poor user experience that can erode your visitors\u2019 trust.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the URL in the address bar doesn\u2019t change as users navigate your website, it\u2019s easy to get lost. Even worse, users that notice this might distrust you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Online spammers often cloak URLs to\u00a0hide malicious content. When visitors realize that you\u2019re cloaking links, they\u2019ll wonder what you have to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Masked URLs make it impossible for users to share or save your content. Instead, when someone copies or bookmarks the URL, they\u2019ll end up saving your homepage only.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should avoid <a href=\"http:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\">URL masking<\/a> if you want your visitors to trust your content and share it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/How-to-mask-a-url-link.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-mask-a-url\">How to Mask a URL&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Login to your\u00a0<strong>cPanel<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on\u00a0<strong>File Manager<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Locate the\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong>\u00a0file (you can also type\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong>\u00a0into your search bar to find the file)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If there is no\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong>\u00a0file, create a new file and name it\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Right-click the\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong>\u00a0file and select\u00a0<strong>Edit<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Copy and paste the code below to your\u00a0<strong>index.html<\/strong>\u00a0file<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save your changes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test the redirect by visiting your original domain<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>URL masking, also known as link cloaking, falls under the umbrella of\u00a0URL redirects.\u00a0 What URL Redirects Are URL redirection sends your domain visitors to another, alternate, destination URL. URL redirects are categorized according to\u00a0HTTP protocol, which makes up the framework of any data transferred on the internet.\u00a0 There are three main types of URL redirects:&nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-url-masking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumbaiwebhosting.co.in\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}