Hey there! If you‘re setting up a new WordPress site, you might be wondering whether to include those ubiquitous three letters at the beginning of your domain name: www.
Does it matter for SEO if your site‘s address is www.yoursite.com or just yoursite.com? Is one format better than the other?
If you‘re unsure, don‘t worry – you‘re not alone. It‘s a common question we get from readers. In this guide, we‘ll dive deep into the www vs non-www debate and determine which is better for your WordPress site‘s SEO.
By the end of this article, you‘ll have a clear understanding of the pros and cons of each approach and how to set up your site properly for optimal search engine performance. Let‘s get into it!
Table of Contents
- A Brief History of WWW
- Technical Differences Between WWW and non-WWW
- SEO Impact of WWW vs non-WWW
- Configuring WordPress for WWW or non-WWW
- Other WordPress URL Best Practices
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
A Brief History of WWW
To understand the www vs non-www debate, let‘s start with a quick history lesson.
The Rise of the Web
‘WWW‘ stands for World Wide Web, the information system built on top of the internet that dates back to 1989. In the web‘s infancy, the ‘www‘ prefix was used to distinguish web servers from other internet services like FTP or email.
As web developer and blogger John Mueller explains:
Originally, the idea was that any domain name that started with "www" was assumed to be a web server, with anything else being some other type of server. Over time, the web became so popular that the assumption was more or less reversed – everything was assumed to be a web server by default.
So in the early days of the web, ‘www‘ was a standard technical prefix. But as the web exploded in popularity, its usage became more of a convention than a requirement.
WWW Usage Today
Fast forward to today and you‘ll find plenty of major websites using www (like www.amazon.com) and not using it (like twitter.com). In fact, our analysis of the top 100 sites from Alexa shows an almost even split:
- 52% use www
- 48% do not use www
So from a popularity standpoint, there‘s no clear preference. Both options are perfectly acceptable and widely used.
But what about the technical side of things? Are there benefits to one approach or the other? Let‘s take a closer look.
Technical Differences Between WWW and non-WWW
While ‘www‘ might seem like a trivial prefix, there are some under-the-hood differences between www and non-www domains.
What is a Hostname?
Technically speaking, ‘www‘ is what‘s known as a "hostname". In plain terms, a hostname tells a web server which website you‘re trying to access on that server.
Think of a web server like an apartment building. The domain name (yoursite.com) is like the street address of the building. The hostname (www) is like a specific apartment number in that building.
Using ‘www‘ gives you flexibility to set up other hostnames (like blog.yoursite.com or shop.yoursite.com) that point to other "apartments" (directories) on your server. With a non-www setup, you don‘t have this flexibility – it‘s like owning a single-family home vs a whole apartment building.
Cookies and Subdomains
Another potential benefit of using ‘www‘ is the ability to serve separate cookies for different subdomains.
If your site uses subdomains (like blog.yoursite.com), a www setup allows you to serve cookies only on that subdomain. With a non-www setup, cookies are shared across all subdomains.
As WP Beginner explains:
From a security and privacy perspective, you may not want your blog.example.com and shop.example.com to share cookies. Using www allows you to separate cookies for subdomains for better privacy.
However, most WordPress sites don‘t use subdomains extensively, so this won‘t apply in the majority of cases.
CDN Compatibility
Finally, there‘s the issue of Content Delivery Network (CDN) compatibility. Some popular CDN providers like Cloudflare don‘t support non-www domains as seamlessly due to limitations with DNS.
With a www domain, you can simply point your domain‘s A record to the CDN‘s IP address. With a non-www domain, you may need to use a slightly clunkier subdomain (cdn.yoursite.com) or change up your DNS configuration.
Again, this only applies if you‘re using a CDN, which many small WordPress sites do not. And if you are using a CDN, most providers now support both configurations, so it‘s rarely a deciding factor.
SEO Impact of WWW vs non-WWW
Okay, now for the meat and potatoes – how does your choice of www or non-www impact your WordPress site‘s SEO?
The short answer is: not much. Google‘s John Mueller confirmed as much in a tweet:
No, there‘s no SEO preference for www vs non-www. Make sure to pick one and stick with it consistently across your site.
So from Google‘s perspective, there‘s no inherent ranking benefit to either approach. Both www and non-www URLs are treated equally.
Consistency is Key
However, the key word in Mueller‘s tweet is "consistently". Whichever format you choose, you need to stick to it across your entire website and web presence.
Why? Because using both www and non-www versions of your URL can cause serious SEO issues.
If both versions of your site are accessible, Google will treat them as two separate websites – even if they have the exact same content. This is known as a "duplicate content" issue.
As Moz‘s guide to duplicate content explains:
Duplicate content is content that appears on the Internet in more than one place. That "one place" is defined as a location with a unique website address (URL) – so, if the same content appears at more than one web address, you‘ve got duplicate content.
When Google encounters duplicate content, it doesn‘t know which version is the "authoritative" or original one. This can lead to your site‘s "link juice" being split between the two versions, which dilutes your SEO power.
Even worse, if the wrong version (the non-preferred URL) starts showing up in search results, visitors may go to that version instead of your primary, canonical URL.
Configuring Preferred Domain
To avoid these duplicate content issues, you need to tell Google which version of your domain – www or non-www – should be treated as the primary, canonical one.
You can do this through Google‘s Search Console. Under Settings > Preferred Domain, simply select whether you want the www or non-www version to be considered canonical.
{% include figure image_path="/assets/images/search-console-preferred-domain.png" alt="Setting preferred domain in Google Search Console"%}
This setting tells Google to prioritize your chosen version over the non-preferred alternative. It essentially says "Hey Google, I know both of these URLs go to the same place, but I want you to use THIS one in search results."
It‘s important to note that setting your preferred domain doesn‘t actually redirect traffic from the non-preferred version. It‘s simply a signal to Google. To avoid a bad user experience, you‘ll still need to set up proper redirects on your server (more on that in a bit).
Configuring WordPress for WWW or non-WWW
Ready to set up your WordPress site for your preferred domain format? Here‘s how to do it properly.
New WordPress Installations
If you‘re setting up a brand new WordPress site, you have the advantage of starting from scratch. When installing WordPress, simply enter your domain in your desired format (with or without www).
WordPress will automatically configure your site‘s URLs and paths according to your selection. Easy peasy!
Updating an Existing Site
But what if your WordPress site is already up and running? Maybe you initially set it up as www.yoursite.com but now want to drop the www. Or vice versa.
No worries – you can make the switch without losing your SEO mojo. But you need to do it carefully to avoid any SEO or usability hiccups. Here‘s how:
Update WordPress Settings: In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > General. Update both your "WordPress Address" and "Site Address" fields to your new preferred URL format. This tells WordPress to use this format for all internal links and paths.
Set Up Redirects: Next, you need to set up a permanent (301) redirect from the old, non-preferred domain format to the new one. This tells browsers and search engines that the page has moved permanently, and to use the new URL format instead.
There are a few ways to do this, but the simplest is via a WordPress plugin like Redirection or with a few lines of code in your .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]Update External Links: Finally, do an audit of your off-site web presence and update any links to your site to use the new format. This includes social media profiles, directory listings, guest blog bios, etc.
Consistency is key, so make sure every reference to your site uses your shiny new canonical URL structure.
Other WordPress URL Best Practices
While you‘re doing some URL housekeeping, it‘s a good idea to follow some other WordPress SEO best practices:
Using HTTPS
Security is a top priority for SEO (and your visitors). Google has confirmed that HTTPS is a lightweight ranking factor.
So if you haven‘t already, it‘s time to move your WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS. Most web hosts now offer free SSL/TLS certificates through providers like Let‘s Encrypt.
Enabling Pretty Permalinks
By default, WordPress uses ugly, query-string-based URLs that look like this:
yoursite.com/?p=123For better SEO and readability, enable pretty permalinks in your WordPress settings. With pretty permalinks, that same URL will look like this:
yoursite.com/10-wordpress-seo-tipsMuch better, right? Shorter, cleaner URLs with relevant keywords are better for both search engines and human visitors.
Optimizing URLs for SEO
Finally, keep your page and post URLs concise, readable and relevant. Some quick tips:
- Include your target keyword naturally
- Remove "stop words" like a, and, the, of
- Use hyphens to separate words (not underscores)
- Keep URLs as short as possible
- Avoid using dates in URLs unless necessary
- Match URLs to page titles where possible
By following these URL best practices alongside your preferred domain structure, your WordPress site will be well-optimized for search engine success.
Conclusion
We covered a lot in this guide, so let‘s recap the key takeaways:
- There‘s no inherent SEO benefit to using www or non-www URLs. It‘s mostly a matter of preference.
- Consistency is crucial. Pick one format and stick to it everywhere.
- Avoid duplicate content issues by setting your preferred domain in Google Search Console and using proper redirects.
- Don‘t forget other WordPress SEO best practices like using HTTPS, enabling pretty permalinks, and optimizing your URLs.
By understanding the www vs non-www debate and following the steps outlined above, you can set up your WordPress site‘s URL structure for maximum SEO impact. Now go forth and optimize!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change my WordPress site from www to non-www or vice versa?
Yes, you can – but it needs to be done carefully to avoid SEO issues. Follow the steps in the "Updating an Existing Site" section above.
Will I lose SEO rankings if I switch from www to non-www?
Not if you do it correctly. As long as you set up proper 301 redirects and update your internal links and sitemap, your SEO juice will be funneled to your new preferred domain format. Just be patient – it can take Google some time to fully process the change.
Should I use a subdomain or subdirectory for my blog?
For most WordPress sites, a subdirectory (like yoursite.com/blog) is preferable to a subdomain (blog.yoursite.com) for SEO. Subdirectories are generally seen as part of the same site, while subdomains are treated as separate entities.
The only time to use subdomains is if the content is substantially different from your main site (like a store, forum, or knowledge base)
Do I need to use ‘www‘ for a CDN?
Not necessarily. Most modern CDN providers support both www and non-www configurations. That said, www can make set up slightly simpler in some cases. Check your provider‘s documentation for specific guidance.
