To comply with latest browser requirements, and security standards Salesforce is requiring customers to use enhanced domains. Moreover, to update your Salesforce org’s URLs to the latest standards, enable and deploy enhanced domains.  Besides, all URLs across org contain company specific My Domain name, including Experience Cloud sites and Salesforce sites. Enhanced My Domain URLs makes easier for users to remember and remain stabilized when org moved to another Salesforce instance. Consistent domain format certainly improves the user experience and standardize URLs for use in custom code and API calls.

Salesforce enhanced domain also comply with latest browser requirements, allowing users to access Salesforce using browsers that block third party cookies, otherwise known as cross-site resources. Enhanced domain eventually provides multiple benefits they are branding, stability, usability and compliance. Salesforce enforces enhanced domains in all orgs in Winter ’24. To help you test, Salesforce deployed this feature in sandbox and non-production orgs with Winter ’23.  It is available both in Hyperforce orgs and in orgs with a deployed My Domain routed through Salesforce edge network.

My Domain URLs formats with enhanced domain

Here are some:

         

How to enable Enhanced Domains

1. From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter My Domain, and then select My Domain.
2. If more suffixes are available for your org’s My Domain, a suffix dropdown list appears.It can only be enabled for the Standard suffix.
3. Select Use enhanced domains.
   
4. Under My Domain Details, select Edit
5. Save your changes.

Some potential Impacts

• Error accessing Salesforce (ex: Experience Cloud sites, Salesforce Sites, and Visualforce pages).
• Embedded content stored in Salesforce not available.
• Third-party applications can lose access to Salesforce data.
• Single sign-on integration failure (ex: Sandboxes, *.cloudforce.com, *.database.com).

To conclude:

Further with this enforcement Salesforce meets the latest browser and security standards. Hence, to avoid these circumstances it is recommended to test enhanced domain in sandbox and production before the release update is enforced.