WWW Vs No WWW On A Canonical URL?

By Web Hosting Help Guy

So though this is not a new issue on the web, there still continues to be debate over the use of WWW versus no WWW on canonical URLs. With websites like Yes-WWW and No-WWW, you can see just how strong of a stance groups have on this topic.

Now, while I’m not going to side with either, I do want to clarify and emphasize that after all of the debate, it really comes down to a matter of preference.

Which is better for SEO?

The answer is…it does NOT matter. Using either WWW/no WWW versions of a website does not effect a website’s rankings because search engines do not base their ranking algorithms on that part of a URL. But, what is important is that for which ever one you choose, you need to continue to only use that format for all inbound links to your canonical URL. Otherwise, if some websites link to your WWW site, while others link to your non WWW site, then your search engine rankings will be split and not strengthen your canonical URL.

In this case, what you need to do from the get-go is create a 301 redirect from your non-canonical URL to your chosen canonical URL. This way, search engines will automatically redirect inbound links to your canonical URL, giving it the full “link juice” that it’s meant to get.

Here are 2 ways of doing a 301 redirect:

I. Through cPanel:

• Log into your cPanel account
• Under the “Domains” section, click “Redirects”
• Select the domain name in the drop down menu next to “http://(www.)?”
• In the text box to the right, type in the URL that you want to redirect
• Next to “redirects to?” enter your canonical URL
• Click “Add”

II. Through .htaccess:

• Download the .htaccess file
• Open the file in a text editor (e.g. Notepad)
• Use the following code below to redirect (replacing “domain.com” with your URL)

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{http_host} ^www.domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

NOTE – For SSL Certificates:

By default, companies assign SSL’s to “exampledomain.com” without the WWW, so if you decide to include the WWW in your canonical URL, make sure to notify your SSL company about that, and remember to do so every time you do renewals.

Are you Pro or No WWW?

Related posts:

1. Subdirectories – 3 Ways To Hide Them Through CPanel
2. 3 Ways To Shorten URLs
3. Search Engine Ranking – 5 Useful SERP Trackers
4. The Benefits Of Sitemaps & How To Create Them
5. iWeb – How To Publish Your Website Without MobileMe