There is a myth in SEO regarding choosing www and non www protocols for your site. Before we start implementing for an average user and small business owner, there is categorically no variance between www vs non www. It’s completely a personal preference no matter what you choose for your domain.
There is only one main technical difference between these two types of URLs and Google doesn’t have a preference for one or the other.
Before we get into what that www and non-www difference is, here’s how the URL will look to the user:
URLs with www:
https://www.businessname.com
http://www. businessname.com
URLs without www:
https:// businessname.com
http:// businessname.com
SEO Benefits of www and non-www:
When it comes to the question of SEO benefits there is no special theory behind this. What’s important is that you stay consistent with the one that you chose at the time of starting your website. In other words, do not change your site URL to add or remove www from it.
Technical Difference between WWW vs non-WWW
When you add www. in front of a site, it acts as a hostname which can help with flexibility with DNS, the ability to restrict cookies when using multiple subdomains, and more. Whereas non-WWW domains also referred to as naked domains do not have a technical advantage.
Pros and Cons
Now that we’ve outlined some of the minor differences between the two URLs, let’s discuss the pros and cons of both.
WWW URL Pros
- Convenient for searchers to type the domain with www because all websites began with www at one point.
- www URL allows you to set cookies for your specific www subdomain.
- Website with www may appear more authentic than non-www URLs.
WWW URL Cons
- Most users don’t type www anymore when searching the web.
- Since Google favors shorter URLs, the www prefix makes the URL much longer.
Non-WWW URL Pros
- With the non-www domain, you don’t have the option to restrict cookies just to the root domain.
- Non-www domains don’t have CNAME records, which means you cannot redirect traffic from one server to the other.
Non-WWW URL Cons
- It’s much easier and faster for the users to just type the domain in the search.
- With the domain name being four characters shorter, it may have an impact on the search engine’s loyalty.
Wrapping Up
We can conclude by telling that shorter URLs of your website tend to perform well in the search engine, so keep in mind to implement this.
