How-to: redirecting naked domains on Bluehost

Redirecting naked domains can be quite intimating, but we have got you covered. Here we go:

Step 01: Is your www-domain pointing to Bluehost?

Ensure that your www-domain is already set up and pointing to Bluehost. Access your DNS Zone Editor in your Bluehost cPanel account, click the "Domains" tab and then "Zone Editor". Is it already pointing to Bluehost? Great, then it is time to move on to step 02. If it is not yet set to redirect to Bluehost, please edit your CNAME record or create a new one. Once you are done, you can move on to the second step of the journey. If you purchased a domain somewhere else, log in to your domain provider and check that there is a CNAME record set for your www-domain.

Step 02: Naked domain redirection

Do't worry, it's not that hard, but it will take some time. NakedSSL is a service we launced to help you with this process and take some of the pain away of dealing with the manual work. One domain is free forever, so give it a go and check if NakedSSL can redirect your naked domain for you:

Test now if we can redirect your domain ✌️

Hey, at least we didn't waste your time creating an account. If you made a mistake in your URL, just run the checker again. And if you don't even have a SSL certificate installed, these guides get you started:

You can create an account and get your URL redirected safely with SSL in no time.

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First things first: do you have a certificate for your domain, ensuring that redirecting from e.g. https://yourdomain.com to https://www.yourdomain.com will work? Remember, the browser first has to create a SSL connection (https is http inside SSL) before it can redirect. That is the reason you need a valid SSL certificate for both domains: www and non-www, your naked domain. Certificates can be bought from a variety of SSL certificate providers, pick and choose one you like. When you have bought the SSL certificates, they need to be installed on the server. There are two different ways to do it and we hope these code snippets will help you with it:

1. If-condition for your NGINX config:

server {
listen 443;
server_name domain.com;
if ($host = domain.com) {
rewrite ^(.*) https://www.domain.com:443$request_uri? permanent;
}

2. 301 redirect for your bar domain:

server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name example.com www.example.com;

return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
server_name example.com;
return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
server_name www.example.com;

====>>> Your site configuration goes here <<======
}

Too complicated? NakedSSL can guide you through the process without all the hassle: