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: Trailing slashes, www and https: pick one and redirect the rest →
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What it is
www consistency means your site answers on one hostname only, either www.example.com or example.com, and the other one redirects to it. To a search engine these are two different sites, so if both serve pages, every URL exists twice.
Google usually picks one version itself, but links, shares and signals get split between the copies until it does, and analytics and Search Console show two properties. Neither choice is better for SEO; what matters is choosing one and using it everywhere.
OK looks like this: the version you do not use answers with a 301 to the same path on the chosen host, and canonical tags, internal links and the sitemap all use the chosen host. getReport requests the other variant and warns when it serves the page instead of redirecting.
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.
Questions people ask
Is www or non-www better for SEO?
Neither is better; Google treats both the same. Pick the one you already use in most links and printed material, then redirect the other to it with a 301. www can be slightly easier to configure behind some CDNs and keeps cookies off other subdomains, but for rankings the only thing that matters is consistency.
What is the difference between www and non-www?
www.example.com is technically a subdomain of example.com, so they are two separate hostnames that can serve different content. Most sites serve the same site on both, which is why one should redirect to the other. Visitors rarely notice the difference; search engines and cookies do.
How do you redirect www to non-www?
Add a permanent 301 redirect from the www host to the bare domain that keeps the path, so www.example.com/shop/ goes to example.com/shop/. Most hosts and CDNs have a one-click setting; on Apache use a rewrite rule, on nginx a separate server block with return 301. Then update canonicals and links.
Does changing from www to non-www affect SEO?
Briefly, yes, like any URL change: Google has to recrawl and move signals from the old URLs to the new ones. With 301 redirects on every path, updated canonicals and sitemap, and the new version added in Search Console, rankings usually settle within a few weeks.