Skip to content

How to pick one hostname (www or not)

SEO1 min readFixes check mixed-www-non-www

When both www and the bare domain serve the site, Google sees two copies. Redirect one to the other permanently.

Step by step, with screenshots: Canonical tags explained, with every mistake we see →

Check your own site

Runs this check and the other 186, free, in about 45 seconds.

What a passing site looks like

  • Only one of www and non-www serves the pagewarning · −1.5 ptseffort M

www and non-www versions both serve the page

Why it matters. When the www and non-www addresses both return the page, search engines see two copies of every URL and split links and rankings between them.

How to fix it.
  1. Pick one host as canonical and 301-redirect the other to it, keeping the path (most hosts and CDNs have a one-click setting for this).
  2. Make sure the canonical tag on every page uses the chosen host.

Filed under Technical SEO. Copy is generated from the same catalogue that scores every report, so what you read here is what the report says.