This topic is one of the all-time favorite questions among new website owners. Although many have researched and decided to buy a new domain name for their website, most of them still haven't decided whether to go “with www” or “without www”?
The quick answer? Search Engines like Google do NOT give an SEO advantage whether you use www or not. In fact, Google has said that it all comes down to your own preferences.
What's the Best Way?
The correct way to tell Google your preferences is to log into your Google Search Console. Google Search Console, is a free tool from Google to track your website's search performance, which indexes and optimizes your website's visibility. Erzedka recommends that you check out Google's other free tools for websites.
If you have verified your website on Google Search Console, that means you are officially the owner of the website - congratulations! Here are the steps for configuring your new website:
- Click Site Settings.
- Select the preference you want.
- You may need to verify ownership of the www and non-www versions of your domain.
If you use WordPress as the content management system (CMS) of your website, it will be much easier to set a canonical URL in your website header. You can include the URL for the canonical version of the page in your plugin.
INFO FOR SEO: HTTPS
When you have finished setting the preferred domain name, don't forget to complete the HTTPS implementation. Some new webmasters haven't realized the big difference between HTTP and HTTPS when it comes to search engine optimization.
In fact, Google has warned that the Chrome browser will display a red “Not Secure” icon for non-HTTPS sites from October 2018 onwards.
301 will only redirect to 1 URL format
To make your life easier, we recommends that you redirect your URLs to one format. For example, when a user clicks from:
https://www.erzedka.comhttp://erzedka.comhttps://erzedka.com
Everything will be redirected to https://www.erzedka.com. Again, www or non-www doesn't really matter apart from a matter of preference!
.HTACCESS REDIRECTION SCRIPT
If you decide to go for a specific web format version, you can implement the following script into your .htaccess file. The script will do 2 things: First, force HTTPS. Next, redirect the non-www to the www version.
RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond%{HTTPS} off [OR]RewriteCond%{HTTP_HOST}! ^Www\. YourName\.com$ [NC]RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ https://www.yourdomainname.com/$1 [L, R = 301]
* Note: Please back up your original .htaccess before performing the update. The script may not work because different websites have different configurations. If you are unsure, please consult your web developer and back up everything first.
If your website is on a Windows Server environment, the above method may not work. Please consult your web developer or website hosting provider to help you configure.
In short, the difference is really just a technicality. ‘Www’ acts as a hostname which helps with DNS (Domain Name System) flexibility. This allows the use of multiple subdomains and limits cookies. Non-www domain names or just using the domain alone do not have such technical advantages.
Conclusion
Based on a comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of using a domain with a "www" prefix and without "www", we recommend using a domain with a "www" prefix. This is because domains with the prefix "www" have more benefits in terms of SEO and can help increase user trust and legitimacy, thereby having a positive impact on conversion rates and audience trust levels in your website.
However, if you have a website with a strong brand name that is already known by your audience, then you may also consider using a domain without the "www" prefix. This is because your website's brand name is well known by the audience and has a high level of trust and legality.
In my opinion, I would prefer not to have www. Why? This is due to the increasing dominance of mobile phone use in the future. By not using the www extension, your domain name will not be truncated if opened via cellphone. This makes it easier for your target audience to remember the domain name of your online store for branding purposes.
Hopefully this article will answer your questions about the difference between using a www or non-www extension. Both will be fine for SEO.