GoDaddy Forwarded Domain Gives "Not Secure" Message

[CraigHardy]

I'm trying to forward a domain that I have registered with GoDaddy to a website I have set up under a different domain. I set up the redirect inside of my admin account at GoDaddy correctly, but when I visit the redirected domain in Chrome, I get a message that tells me my connection isn't secure. What's going on? Does anyone know what I can do to get around this? Why is this happening?

 

[Cameron]

I've had this happen to me in the past. When redirecting a domain with GoDaddy, you can choose either HTTP or HTTPS. Both of those alternatives use different ports for their redirecting. Back in the day, it didn't matter if you chose the HTTP option to redirect to a secure site because Chrome never gave any notice (or error page). The first redirect would happen inside of GoDaddy and then the second redirect would happen inside the site that's being redirected to. The second redirect being from HTTP to HTTPS. Now though, Chrome stops insecure pages in their tracks and warns the user that the page they are trying to visit may try to steal something. Even though they give a link that allows the user to click through to the ultimate landing page, we all know that no one is going to click it.

When I tried to redirect from GoDaddy using either option, I'd still get the error message inside of Chrome that told me the site wasn't secure. There was no way around it. Basically, with today's sites all using HTTPS and with Chrome stopping the redirect because of that error, GoDaddy's domain forwarding feature is pretty useless.

The way I made my redirect work was to set up either a redirect on my own server that bounces from a basically empty hosting account to the target website or to set up an alias in cPanel at the target website. Both options are great, but the alias is easier. It's fewer steps.

 

[CraigHardy]

Thank you for your response and your advice. I agree - if no one can get through to a website that uses HTTPS, or any website for that matter, without getting stuck in GoDaddy's insecure forwarding system, it's a useless feature on their part.

I was reading up on this topic and found some resources, just in case anyone else is interested.

https://ie.godaddy.com/community/Managing-Domains/Forwarded-domain-not-secure/td-p/119820
https://ie.godaddy.com/community/SSL-And-Security/unwanted-security-message/td-p/149025

This is a great response from the above link:

The free forwarding service does not use SSL. Ideally the domain would be added to a hosting plan where an SSL certificate can be applied, and do the redirect on that end.

Unfortunately domain forwarding is not compatible with SSL, so using https:// with a forwarded domain results in a security warning. To get around this the domain would need to be added to the hosting account along with an SSL for that domain, then you could do the redirect within the hosting account.

I'll update this thread if I find anything else.