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  topcat1953 · Member · Jun 29, 2018 at 2:39 pm

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  What if I don’t renew a custom domain? What happens to the URL, site traffic and all links to the custom site address?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  staff-zinnia · Staff · Jun 29, 2018 at 5:40 pm

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  Hi –

  Which domain are you asking about?

  The site is going to fall back on to the free site that it is connected with (if the domain is registered through us).

  The domain will go up for sale again and someone else, or a squatter service, will buy it.

  If there’s any chance that you might want to use the domain again in the future it would be best to hold on to it if you can.

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  topcat1953 · Member · Jun 29, 2018 at 7:38 pm

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  I don’t yet have a custom domain because I’m concerned about what happens if, for some reason, I don’t renew it. Is the traffic redirected and what happens to all the content that is linked to the custom URL? Are the links inactive, or are they directed back to the old URL? Are bookmarks and address searches also redirected?

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  thesacredpath · Member · Jun 30, 2018 at 2:43 am

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  Hi there, during the 10 day grace period after the renewal date, if the renewal is not made, there will be an expiration banner that will appear on your site when you go to the custom URL.

  After 10 days, the domain would go into Redemption and at that point, anyone going to that domain name would see a broken page.

  Once the domain goes out of the Redemption period, someone else may pick up the domain name and then anyone going to that domain would get the new person’s site.

  If you should decide to get the upgrade and then at some point decide not to renew the domain name, it would be best to set your primary domain back to the underlying WordPress.com url about three months before the renewal date so that the search engines have the opportunity to pick that change up and have the right url.

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  thesacredpath · Member · Jun 30, 2018 at 2:43 am

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  You can read more here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-expiration/#what-happens-when-my-domain-expires

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  topcat1953 · Member · Jun 30, 2018 at 3:33 am

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  Thank you. Considering all that, I think I’ll stay with the wordpress.com URL. For me, I don’t see the advantage of having a custom URL, and if I fail to renew it just creates a whole lot of issues.

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  gemmacevans · Member · Jun 30, 2018 at 1:44 pm

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  Sure, you can continue using the free address for as long as you like, upgrading to a custom domain is completely optional :)