{"id":17798,"date":"2020-12-19T17:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T16:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=17798"},"modified":"2021-01-05T13:28:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T12:28:31","slug":"www-vs-non-www-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/www-vs-non-www-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"WWW vs Non WWW URLs &#8211; Which is Better for Your WordPress Website"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\" id=\"wpb-content-root\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The first decisions you make when creating a website are very important. Choosing a purpose for the site, picking a host, choosing a <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/themes-list\/\">WordPress theme<\/a> &#8211; that\u2019s stuff that matters a lot. You might also need to choose how to make money from the website, which monetization model works best for you, and many other stuff that, again, matters a lot.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]That\u2019s why it\u2019s very important that you\u2019re able to separate those important decisions from the ones that don\u2019t really matter. The \u201cwww vs. non-www\u201d dilemma is a great example of things people give undue importance to, even though there is some nuance to the dilemma. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]So, let\u2019s dig into it! In this article, we\u2019ll explain: [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#what-is-www\">What Is WWW?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#difference-between-www-and-non-www\">What\u2019s the Difference Between WWW and Non-WWW<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#how-to-choose-between-www-and-non-www\">How to Choose Between WWW and Non-WWW<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;new-top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;81px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"what-is-www\"><\/a>What Is WWW?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/What-Is-WWW.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"What Is WWW\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/What-Is-WWW.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/What-Is-WWW-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/What-Is-WWW-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/What-Is-WWW-620x355.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]People are familiar with the letters www partially because they form the acronym for the World Wide Web, this thing you\u2019re visiting when you\u2019re reading articles online. However, when you put those three words in a <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/what-is-a-domain-name\/\">domain name<\/a> like this<em> www.example.com<\/em>, they become important because <strong>www becomes the subdomain in the domain name you\u2019re visiting.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Www is one of the most popular and widely used subdomains, but it\u2019s not the only one.<\/strong> You can come across lots of websites with \u201cmail\u201d and \u201cblog\u201d as their subdomains. Mobile websites will often have \u201cm\u201d as their subdomain, test websites with having \u201ctest,\u201d and forums might have \u201cforum.\u201d<strong> Www, in this case, is exactly the same as any of these subdomains. <\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"difference-between-www-and-non-www\"><\/a>What\u2019s the Difference Between WWW and Non-WWW?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Whats-the-Difference-Between-WWW-and-Non-WWW.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"What\u2019s the Difference Between WWW and Non-WWW\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Whats-the-Difference-Between-WWW-and-Non-WWW.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Whats-the-Difference-Between-WWW-and-Non-WWW-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Whats-the-Difference-Between-WWW-and-Non-WWW-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Whats-the-Difference-Between-WWW-and-Non-WWW-620x355.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]When you\u2019re asking about the difference between www and non-www URLs, <strong>you\u2019re actually asking what\u2019s the difference between having a subdomain in your domain name.<\/strong> We know, for example, that it doesn\u2019t affect your SEO in any way. <strong>Google shouldn\u2019t care whether you\u2019re using <em>www.example.com<\/em> or <em>example.com<\/em>. <\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>There are some slight difference between the two:<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Subdomain tends to work better with cookies in some cases. Root domain cookies can in some circumstances clog up the works, especially on large websites that have lots of static content.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Subdomains also work better with <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/what-is-a-cdn\/\">content delivery networks<\/a>. Some CDN service providers work around the DNS restrictions that prevent non-www websites pointing at a CDN domain, making this a non-issue for their clients.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Www might add an air of credibility to a website because of the familiarity factor. This likely to change in the years to come as we switch to non-subdomain URLs.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]That\u2019s all there is to it. <strong>All the differences are easily rectified &#8211; even the issue with cookies can be dealt with by storing static content on a separate domain.<\/strong> Whichever you choose, it\u2019s likely that you won\u2019t notice a difference.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"how-to-choose-between-www-and-non-www\"><\/a>How to Choose Between WWW and Non-WWW?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Choose-Between.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Choose Between\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Choose-Between.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Choose-Between-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Choose-Between-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Choose-Between-620x355.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]For the most part, it doesn\u2019t matter which one you choose, as even the issues you might face have easy fixes. There\u2019s also no reason why you wouldn\u2019t be able to have both. But there\u2019s a catch \u2014 <strong>you have to choose one for your main version of the website and stick with it. <\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Don\u2019t confuse search engines by giving them two versions of your website that you treat the same, making it more difficult to see which one is the canonical version.<\/strong> Use the <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&lt;link rel=\u201dcanonical\u201d&gt;<\/span><\/i> element to the head of your pages to let the search engines know which page should be treated as canonical.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Speaking of canonical versions \u2013 when you settle on the version that will be your main version, make sure you <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-create-301-redirects-in-wordpress\/\">set up 301 redirects<\/a> that will bring any user who tries to visit the non-canonical version over to the canonical version.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Let\u2019s Wrap It Up!<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]For the most part, it won\u2019t make a huge difference whether you choose a www or a non-www address for your website. The slight advantages that come with www melt thanks to workarounds that are not too hard to implement. There\u2019s no reason why you wouldn\u2019t have both, after all.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The important thing is that, when you choose which one is the main version, you treat it as the main version consistently. That\u2019s where setting up redirects and adding link elements come into play \u2013 they help browsers understand which version is the main, or canonical, one. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wonder what&#8217;s the difference between a www and a non-www website? There&#8217;s no much to it, as we explain in this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9295,"featured_media":17999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4,13],"class_list":["post-17798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources","tag-tips","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}