It is very common to hold two names for the same business — thecompany.co.mz and thecompany.com, say — and to want both to open the same site. That is called an alias, or a parked domain, and it costs nothing: it is not a new plan and it takes up no space.
First, three things with similar names that do different jobs:
| What |
What it does |
| Alias (parked domain) |
A second name for the site you already have. Same content, same folder. This article is about this one. |
| Addon domain |
A different site, with its own folder, inside the same account. See how to add another domain or a subdomain |
| Subdomain |
A branch of a name you already have, such as shop.yourdomain.co.mz. No new registration needed. |
When an alias is the right answer
There are three situations where almost everyone ends up needing one:
| 1 |
You registered the same brand on two extensions. Whichever one people type, they reach the same place — and nobody else gets to trade on the near-identical name.
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| 2 |
The company changed its name. The old name keeps taking people to the new site instead of leaving them on a dead page.
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How to do it, in cPanel
| 1 |
The domain has to exist and point here first. If you registered it with us it already does; if it sits with another provider, change the nameservers there — see how to configure a domain DNS.
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| 2 |
Log into cPanel and open Domains.
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| 3 |
Click Create a New Domain and type the full name, without www.
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| 4 |
This is the step that makes the difference: turn on «Share document root» and pick the main domain. That is what makes it an alias instead of a separate site.
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| 5 |
Click Submit. On our side it is ready immediately.
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Skip step 4 and it is not an alias. Without sharing the document root, cPanel creates a new empty folder — and the new domain shows a blank page or an error instead of your site. It can be fixed afterwards, but it is simpler to get it right the first time.
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How long until it opens. On our side, instantly. Out on the internet, if you have just changed nameservers, allow a few hours for the name to reach everyone — see how long DNS changes take to propagate. The SSL certificate for the new name is automatic too, but it can take from a few minutes to an hour; until then the browser may warn about the connection.
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What an alias does to e-mail — and hardly anyone knows
Creating an alias makes the server treat that name as its own for e-mail as well. A message to hello@thenewname.co.mz is then delivered here, into the mailbox of the same name on the main domain.
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The trap: when that name has its e-mail elsewhere. If the new name keeps its mail on Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or anywhere else, creating the alias stops messages sent from inside the server from leaving — it assumes the mailbox is its own and delivers to itself. The fix is in cPanel, under E-mail Routing, marking that domain as Remote. The full path is in e-mail with us and the site elsewhere.
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Alias or redirect? Not the same choice
An alias shows the same site at two different addresses. It works, but to Google those are two copies of the same content, and it picks which one to show — not always the one you wanted.
If what you want is for the second name to lead to the first, add a redirect. In the .htaccess of the shared folder, right at the top:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?theoldname\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.themainname.co.mz/$1 [R=301,L]
Swap both names for your own. With this rule anyone typing the old name lands on the main one, with the address bar changing — and Google understands there is only one site.
| What you want |
What to choose |
| Both names open and both stay visible |
Alias, nothing else. Simple, and it protects the brand. |
| One name always leads to the other |
Alias plus the 301 rule above. This is what we recommend when there is a clear main name. |
| Sites with different content |
Not an alias — that is an addon domain. |
How to undo it
On the same Domains screen, the alias appears in the list with a remove option. Removing it does not delete the site, because the site lives in the main domain's folder — there is simply no second name any more. And removing the alias does not cancel the domain registration either: it stays yours and keeps renewing.
How many aliases you can have depends on the plan. In cPanel, the right-hand panel shows the Aliases limit — a number, or unlimited.
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Got a domain sitting idle that should point at your site?
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