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Every second, someone wants to know which is better, www vs non-www. They want to know solely for SEO reasons and whether it is beneficial to change the URL. In this article, we will learn which is better, www or non-www, from the perspective of WordPress SEO.
Before starting, if you own a small business, there is not much difference between www and non-www. This purely depends upon your personal preference. Surely, there is a technical difference that we will discuss further. If you are confused, you can also seek guidance from a WordPress Website Design Company, as they will let you know which is right for you.
- WWW – https://www.example.com
- Non-WWW – https://example.com
SEO Advantage of WWW vs Non-WWW
You do not gain SEO benefits if you select one over others. According to Google, it’s all about your preference. The important thing is to remain consistent with the one you choose for your website.
It would be best not to change the website URL to add or remove WWW; this is ideally a decision you should make when developing and launching a new website.
You can tell Google about your choice and change it. You must go to your Google Search Console account and select your website. If your website is not registered with the Google Search Console, go for it.
Afterward, go to the Gear in the top right corner and then to the website settings.
When on the website settings, select the preferred version of the domain.
Using the Yoast SEO plug-in for WordPress automatically sets the URL in the website header, letting Google know your preference. This is all you have to do.
WWW vs Non-WWW – Technical Difference
Adding www as your URL will work as a hostname and assist in flexibility with the DNS. It also can block the restricted cookies that appear while using several subdomains.
When you use non-www, it is stated as a naked domain that doesn’t provide any technical benefit.
When the World Wide Web started, it only accepted www URLs that worked like www subdomains. After some time, users searched for websites online without typing the URL “www.” The webmaster noted this, and after this, many websites eliminated www.
Practically, there is no benefit that you can get over another. It is just a matter of your brand or personal choice. But technically, there is just a minute difference between them, as discussed above.
Even if there is no difference, the search engine – SERP considers these different entities.
Advantages and Disadvantages of WWW vs Non-WWW
After you understand the minor difference between the www and non-www versions, let’s discuss the pros and cons of both URLs.
Advantage of WWW
This was the only URL that websites used back then. It is famous, and some might think of non–www websites as fake.
The other advantage is that it will restrict the cookies for the specific subdomain. You might be wondering how cookies work. Now, let’s assume that you have a website named www.abc.com, and when you add cookies, they go through several subdomains. So, suppose you have the subdomains named x.www.abc.com and z.www.abc.com, and then they will pass the cookies from both subdomains.
When you add the www URL, you can restrict cookies to your main domains so that no cookies must be passed through other subdomains. If your website has several subdomains, it is advisable to use the www URL to block cookies.
Another advantage of using www for websites is that they become more flexible with the DNS when you have subdomains with www. This will allow you to use the Content Delivery Network without any problem.
Disadvantages of WWW
The only disadvantage of www Domains is that your website can become obsolete, as most people don’t bother typing www into the browser address bar for your web address when visiting your homepage.
Advantages of Non – WWW
A non–www domain website is much easier to find, as you have to type the website name. This is great if you want to attract direct traffic to your website.
In addition, people don’t type www while searching for websites online. There might be a time when the WWW domain will be eliminated, and non-www websites will be the only websites. However, www is the only prefix added before your website name; apart from that, there is no other benefit.
If you don’t use www, it will save four characters of space and four bytes of data.
If restricting cookies is not your priority, you should opt for the non–WWW URL.
Disadvantages of Non-WWW
There are not many disadvantages to non-www domains. However, they lack the advantages provided by WWW domains.
If you opt for a non–www domain, you can restrict cookies to root the domains in no other way. It will not be an issue if your subdomains host images on the same root domain.
In addition, non–www domains don’t include CNAME records that will not direct you from one server to another. This is a valuable function when your web hosting server is overloaded and you want to direct all your traffic to another server. Accessing non-WWW domains will not be convenient for the content delivery network.
A website with a www domain has inherent benefits that non–www domains don’t have. However, this advantage is only useful when a large website contains multiple subdomains. If your website is small, it doesn’t matter which domain you use, and you can easily use the non–www domain.
Which is Better – WWW or Non–WWW?
From the SEO perspective, www has an advantage over non-www and slightly improves the website’s performance.
Improving your website’s performance will also impact the user’s performance and improve its performance from the perspective of SEO.
Therefore, if your website has a WWW domain, it will positively and indirectly impact SEO. However, the impact is insignificant, and no significant effect of the non–www domain will exist.
Also, you can replicate the benefit of the www domain with the non-www domain through a workaround. You can use a separate domain to host the static content. This allows you to use the cookie restriction function for a www domain, which is not compulsory.
So, when you use a non–www domain, you can use the function to gain the same advantage as the WWW domain.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a www preferred domain is recommended if your business has an extensive website or you wish to grow it shortly. This way, you don’t have to add much complexity to your name and can also gain a technical advantage. You can hire a WordPress developer to guide you through creating your www Domain website.
But if you do not have a large website, there is no need for a www domain. Whether you want a www or non–www domain is your personal or brand preference. Practically, there is not much difference between both.
Conclusion
The result of the www vs. Non-www question is that there is not much difference between them. But if you go deep, then www has a bit of technical advantage over the non–www websites as it leads to performance improvement. Having a large website with multiple servers and domains can also be beneficial.
From the perspective of SEO, there is not much difference, but one can only gain a slight advantage with www websites. So, according to the size of your website, you should determine whether you want a www or non–www website.
But if you are still confused, it is advisable to seek guidance from web design experts or your hosting provider. They will guide you properly.
Author’s Bio
Name: Gaurav Saraswat
Designation: SEO Executive
Gaurav Saraswat is an SEO executive at Techno Softwares, a leading WordPress development company. You can Hire a WordPress developer from Techno Softwares.