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Seeking Advice: Redirecting Old Host Mapping URLs in Zendesk
Posted Apr 18, 2024
Hi Community,
I'm researching to understand the precise steps required to update the "Host Mapping" from, for instance, "support.diegobechi.com" to "support.newdomain.com". After scouring numerous articles and forums, I've found the most relevant resource to be this one:
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838571930-Host-mapping-Changing-the-URL-of-your-help-center
This article provides clear instructions on how to set up the new alias, including:
- Properly configuring DNS settings on my end
- Updating the host mapping URL within the branding settings
- Verifying that Zendesk generates a new certificate for the new URL.
Following these steps should ensure a smooth transition to the new domain.
However, my primary concern revolves around handling traffic from old links, as many customers and sites may still be linked to articles with the old "support.diegobechi.com" URL. I'm eager to learn if there's a way to set up redirects so that users clicking on old links are seamlessly redirected to the corresponding articles with the new domain.
For example, if someone bookmarks an article with the old URL:
"https://support.diegobechi.com/hc/en-us/articles/111155662244-Getting-started-with-us",
I'm hoping to implement a solution where they are automatically redirected to the article with the new domain:
"https://support.newdomain.com/hc/en-us/articles/111155662244-Getting-started-with-us".
(Note: These URLs are examples and do not represent real links).
Has anyone here encountered a similar scenario? Is this feasible within Zendesk, or would it require changes to our servers? I would greatly appreciate any advice or insights on potential solutions to ensure a seamless user experience for visitors accessing links with the old domain.
Thank you for your help!
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3 comments
Brandon Tidd
Hey Diego Bechi -
We had a client facing a similar situation, and how we solved for it was to temporarily standup a second brand, wherein after the change is made - after about 10 minutes we were able to reclaim the old subdomain and then do a simple redirect from the old subdomain help center > new subdomain help center. This won't work on at the article level, but it would allow you to capture anyone who is trying to find you under the legacy name. Curious to see if anyone else has come up with a more equitable solution.
Brandon Tidd
729 Solutions
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Diego Bechi
Hi Brandon,
Thank you for your response. We've finally found a solution by implementing some additional work on our servers, so I'd like to share the details with anyone who may encounter a similar issue in the future.
Our problem primarily revolved around the host mapping change, as we were not altering the subdomain at this stage. Behind the scenes, our domain was "diegocompany.zendesk.com," which we wanted to maintain as it isn't visible to our clients. Our goal was to transition from the current host mapping "support.diegobechi.com" to our new value, such as "support.mycompany.com," while ensuring proper redirection at the article level for anyone who had bookmarked our docs, as well as for internal linking.
Zendesk allowed for a smooth transition for the first part. We updated our DNS to include both records:
Then, we updated the value in the Zendesk dashboard as described in this documentation. After that, a new SSL was generated, and the help center was up and running under the new value in around 10 minutes, which was great.
The additional work to ensure that old article and section links remained functional involved adding a load balancer on our server to preserve the path from the old link and include it in the redirection:
I hope this explanation is clear and helpful to someone in the future. This post can now be marked as Solved!
Thanks
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Brandon Tidd
Glad to hear this worked for you, and thanks for sharing your solution!
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