WWW vs Non-WWW Redirects: SEO and Technical Best Practices

Introduction

A website can often be reached with both www and non-www versions, such as www.example.com and example.com. Technically, these are different hostnames. If both versions load separately without a clear redirect, users and search engines may see duplicate versions of the same site.

There is no universal SEO rule that says www is always better than non-www, or the reverse. The important part is consistency: choose one canonical host, redirect the other version cleanly, keep HTTPS working, and make sure internal links, canonical tags and sitemaps all use the final version.

Quick answer

WWW vs non-WWW

WWW and non-WWW are two different hostnames.

• www.example.com
• example.com

Both can point to the same website, but they are not technically the same URL. Without redirects, both versions may be accessible separately.

Which is better?

For most websites, either version can work well.

Four URL versions

Every website should test all four common versions:

• http://example.com
• http://www.example.com
• https://example.com
• https://www.example.com

Only one should be the final canonical version.

http://example.com → 301 → https://example.com
http://www.example.com → 301 → https://example.com
https://www.example.com → 301 → https://example.com
https://example.com → 200 OK

Duplicate hosts

If both www and non-www load the same site without redirects, problems can appear.

• duplicate content signals
• split backlinks
• inconsistent canonical URLs
• analytics fragmentation
• cookie/session confusion
• sitemap mismatch
• crawl inefficiency
• redirect confusion after migrations
• SSL mismatch warnings
• inconsistent brand URLs

Search engines are usually good at understanding duplicates, but relying on guesswork is worse than using clear redirects.

Redirect strategy

A clean redirect strategy should send every variant directly to the chosen final URL.

Good:
http://www.example.com/page
→ 301 https://example.com/page
→ 200 OK

Bad:
http://www.example.com/page
→ 301 http://example.com/page
→ 301 https://example.com/page
→ 200 OK

Why this matters

This is especially important after HTTPS migrations, domain moves, WordPress rebuilds, CDN setup and SEO migrations.

How to check redirects

Use Website Status Checker to test all four URL versions and confirm the final destination.

Check:

1. Non-www HTTP — Test http://example.com.
2. WWW HTTP — Test http://www.example.com.
3. Non-www HTTPS — Test https://example.com.
4. WWW HTTPS — Test https://www.example.com.
5. Final status — The canonical version should return 200 OK.
6. Redirect type — Non-canonical versions should usually use 301 redirects.
7. Redirect chain — Each version should redirect directly to the final URL.
8. SSL coverage — The certificate should cover both www and non-www if both HTTPS variants are used or redirected.

Common problems

How to set it up

1. Step 1: Choose canonical host

   Decide whether the final site should use www or non-www.

2. Step 2: Confirm SSL coverage

   Make sure the certificate covers both example.com and www.example.com.

3. Step 3: Configure one redirect rule

   Redirect the non-canonical host directly to the canonical HTTPS URL.

4. Step 4: Avoid duplicate layers

   Do not create conflicting redirects in server, CDN, CMS and plugins at the same time.

5. Step 5: Update site settings

   Update CMS settings, canonical tags, internal links and sitemap.

6. Step 6: Test all four variants

   Check HTTP/HTTPS and www/non-www versions.

7. Step 7: Check final status

   Confirm the final URL returns 200 OK.

8. Step 8: Monitor after launch

   Review crawl errors, analytics, Search Console and redirect logs.

WordPress setup

In WordPress, check:

• WordPress Address URL
• Site Address URL
• permalink settings
• redirect plugins
• SEO plugin canonical settings
• .htaccess or Nginx rules
• CDN redirect rules
• cache plugin settings
• sitemap output
• internal links

CDN and hosting

WWW/non-WWW redirects may be configured at different layers.

• CDN redirect rules
• hosting control panel
• Nginx server block
• Apache .htaccess
• WordPress plugin
• application framework
• load balancer

Example A: non-www canonical

http://example.com
→ 301 https://example.com
→ 200 OK

http://www.example.com
→ 301 https://example.com
→ 200 OK

https://www.example.com
→ 301 https://example.com
→ 200 OK

https://example.com
→ 200 OK

Example B: www canonical

http://example.com
→ 301 https://www.example.com
→ 200 OK

http://www.example.com
→ 301 https://www.example.com
→ 200 OK

https://example.com
→ 301 https://www.example.com
→ 200 OK

https://www.example.com
→ 200 OK

Apache example: redirect www to non-www

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Apache example: redirect non-www to www

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Nginx example: redirect www to non-www

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name www.example.com;
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}

Nginx example: redirect non-www to www

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri;
}

SEO checklist

Frequently asked questions