My Domain Website vs Shopify/Google Website - Getting Conflicting Info

[Monica_GALS]

• I’ve been a Shopify customer for years.  My domain is GalsonandofftheGreen.com (See attached Reference A).
• We decided to pay for Google Ads so now we have another website Shop.Galsonandoffthegreen.com (Reference B)
• I’ve been told I should only have one website, but I don’t want to lose my domain.  I’ve gotten conflicting information what happens if I redirect to B.
• I would prefer the customers see my domain A but be redirected to domain B.  Is this possible? 
• How would this impact my Google Ads?

[DaisyVo]

Hi @Monica_GALS 

I totally get where you’re coming from. It sounds like you’ve been running your main store on GalsonandofftheGreen.com (let’s call it Domain A) for years, but now you’ve set up a secondary store under Shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com (Domain B) for Google Ads. Now, you’re trying to figure out how to keep using your original domain while making sure customers land where they need to—and, most importantly, that this doesn’t hurt your Google Ads or SEO.

Can You Keep Domain A But Redirect to Domain B?

Yes, you can definitely set up a 301 redirect from Domain A (GalsonandofftheGreen.com) to Domain B (Shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com). However, the issue is that once you redirect Domain A, visitors will always land on Domain B, and the original domain won’t be visible in the browser bar anymore—they’ll only see Domain B. So if your goal is for customers to "see" Domain A but actually be on Domain B, that’s not possible with a standard redirect.

Alternative Solution: Using Domain A as the Primary Domain

Instead of redirecting, you can connect Domain A to your Shopify store and make it the primary domain. That way, customers will still see GalsonandofftheGreen.com when they visit, but the site will load the Shopify store (Domain B’s content). Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to your Shopify Admin panel.
2. Click Settings > Domains.
3. Add GalsonandofftheGreen.com as a custom domain.
4. Set it as your primary domain.
5. Ensure Shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com is also connected as a secondary domain (optional).

This way, your original domain stays visible, and you won’t confuse customers.

How Does This Affect Google Ads?

If you’re running Google Ads, you must use the same root domain in your ad destination URLs. That means:

• If your ads currently point to Shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com, and you switch to using GalsonandofftheGreen.com as the primary domain, you need to update your Google Ads URLs accordingly.
• Google Ads requires the display URL to match the final URL. So if you set up Domain A as the primary, make sure your ads reflect this (instead of using shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com).
• A 301 redirect might hurt your ad performance because Google Ads could see it as a mismatch.

Best Recommendation:

• If branding and consistency are your priority, make GalsonandofftheGreen.com the primary domain on Shopify.
• If you want to keep shop.GalsonandofftheGreen.com for tracking or a specific landing page purpose, you can still use it as a subdomain but don’t fully redirect your main domain.

Let me know if you need extra help getting this set up. Thanks!
Daisy.