How to pick one hostname (www or not)
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 →
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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.
- 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).
- Make sure the canonical tag on every page uses the chosen host.