What is domain parking? How to park unused domains

Domain parking means registering a domain name and reserving it without pointing it to an active website. A parked domain doesn't display your website content—instead, it shows a placeholder page (like "Coming Soon") or redirects to another domain. This is useful for protecting brand names, setting up future projects, or managing domain portfolios.

Why park a domain?

• Brand protection: Register variations of your domain (e.g., .com, .net, .co) to prevent competitors from using them
• Future projects: Reserve a domain for a website you plan to launch later
• Rebranding: Keep old domain names pointing to your new site while they remain registered
• Domain portfolio: Acquire valuable domain names as investments, displaying them as parked until sold
• Testing: Register test domains without setting up full websites yet
• Temporary hold: Keep a domain active during site or redesign

Parked domain vs addon domain

These terms are often confused, but they're different:

In cPanel terminology: A "parked domain" (also called an "Alias") simply displays the same website as your primary domain using a different domain name. Both mycompany.com and mycompany.net would show identical content.

Parking at registrar level

When you register a domain at a registrar but don't point it to any hosting, the registrar displays a default placeholder page. This is the most basic form of parking.

Example registrar placeholder pages:

• GoDaddy: Shows "This domain is parked with GoDaddy"
• Namecheap: Displays a basic landing page with links to the registrar
• UnderHost: Shows a professional UnderHost parked domain page (if registered here)

To park a domain at a registrar:

1. Register the domain through your registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, UnderHost, etc.)
2. DO NOT change the nameservers away from the registrar's default nameservers
3. DO NOT point an A record or CNAME to any hosting
4. The registrar's default page will display

This is the simplest parking method and requires no hosting account.

Parked domain (alias) in cPanel

If you have hosting with UnderHost and want to park additional domains you own, cPanel's "Parked Domain" feature (also called "Alias") lets you display your primary website under a different domain name.

How it works: A parked domain in cPanel is an alias that points to your primary domain's content. Both domains serve the identical website files.

1. Log in to cPanel
2. Go to Domains → Parked Domains (or Aliases, depending on cPanel version)
3. Enter the domain name you want to park (e.g., mycompany.net)
4. Important: The domain must already be pointed to UnderHost's nameservers or have an A record pointing to your server
5. Click Add Domain

After adding: Visitors accessing both your primary domain (mycompany.com) and parked domain (mycompany.net) will see the same website.

To remove a parked domain: Go to cPanel Domains, find the parked domain, and click Delete.

DNS requirement

Important: Whether you park a domain at the registrar level OR add it as a parked domain in cPanel, the domain's DNS must be properly configured.

For registrar-level parking: Leave the domain with the registrar's default nameservers (don't change anything).

For cPanel parked domain: The domain must be pointed to UnderHost's nameservers:

1. Log into your domain registrar
2. Change the domain's nameservers to UnderHost's nameservers
3. Wait 24-48 hours for DNS propagation
4. Then add the domain as a parked domain in cPanel

Once the domain is pointed to UnderHost, you can either:

• Park it (alias): Shows your primary site's content
• Add it as addon domain: Give it its own separate website
• Create a subdomain: Use it as a section of your main site

Implementation options

Which option should you use?

Choose registrar-level parking if: You only want to reserve the domain name. No hosting needed.

Choose cPanel parked domain if: You want the domain to display your existing website (same as primary domain).

Choose addon domain if: You want the domain to host a completely separate website.

SEO considerations

For parked domains (aliases): When multiple domains point to the same content, search engines may see it as duplicate content. To avoid SEO issues:

• Set a canonical domain: In your site's HTML head, add <link rel="canonical" href="https://primary-domain.com/page"> to tell search engines which version is the "main" domain
• Set preferred domain in Google Search Console: Tell Google which domain version you prefer to be indexed
• 301 redirect instead: Instead of a parked alias, use a 301 permanent redirect to cleanly point old domains to the primary

Parked domains with proper canonical tags or 301 redirects pose no SEO risk and are safe to use for brand protection.

Related: cPanel addon domains | Configure DNS | Nameservers | Domain transfer | DirectAdmin addon domains

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