Using WWW or not using it will have no bearing on your website. There is nothing to fear of.

There has been quite a number of unhealthy rumors about each’s pros and cons with some arguing that using WWW will boost ones website’s SEO benefits.

But let me state emphatically that, there are  no SEO benefits for choosing one over another. It all depends on your choice.

However, I have to add that it pays to be consistent with whichever tangent you take. If you choose one, try and stay consistent with the one you choose for your website.

That is to say, if you start your website with WWW, do not change it at a point in time to a non-WWW url. And in the same vein, do not add WWW if you didn’t do that in the beginning.

The reason is that search engines like Google will consider www and non-www as two different websites. This will lead to duplication in content.

We recommend you use the All in One SEO plugin. This plugin will set canonical URL in your website header for you automatically. This helps to alert Google of your choice.

WWW vrs non-WWW – their technical differences

WWW domains can act as a hostname and can have several subdomains attached to it. This can be helpful for a larger website.

A non-WWW domain is sometimes referred to as a “naked” domain.

When the internet first came into existence, website URLs started with www.

However, that changed over time. People began searching for websites online without the  www attached.

This development informed webmasters who eventually adopted a more naked domain approach – that’s allowing website names without the www prefix.

This created no practical problems but technically, there was an element of difference between the two.

The most important technical difference is that search engines viewed the the two ways differently. That is, a website prefixed with www and the one without it.

WWW vrs non-WWW – what are the Pros and Cons?

Let’s have a look at some of the Pros and Cons of using either of this approach. 

WWW Pros

• It gives you more control over cookies for your particular subdomain
• A www prefix will allow you to restrict your cookies to your root domain. This prevents additonal cookies from getting passed down to other subdomains.  This explains why using www for a website with multiple subdomains, is ideal.
• It is also worth noting that www subdomains are much more flexible when it comes to DNS. This helps  you to use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) in a relatively easier way.

WWW Cons

Well, using www is not entirely rosy especially given the current trend or behavior of those who surf the internet. The following are the cons :

•  It’s possible that  www domains may become obsolete in the long run given the fact that most people do not use the www when typing anymore.
• Google Chrome browser hides the www from the displayed URL. This lends credence to the triviality of the prefix and its possible extinction with time.

Non-WWW Pros

• Websites without www are not only pretty easy to rememeber but easier to type in a search.
• If you intend not to restrict your cookies, then there is no need to  consider a www domain.  A naked one will suffice.

Non-WWW Cons

Here are some of the cons of a non-www that result from technical challenges

• No Cookie Restriction
• No Traffic Overload Protection
• non-www domains don’t have CNAME records, so you can’t redirect traffic from one server to the other. However, this functionality is useful when one server gets overloaded, and it becomes necessary you redirect traffic to a healthy server.

So, what is the final decision?

At this point, you might be rooting for a www prefix to your website due to the slight advantage it has over the non-www. I have to say that these advantages are insignificant.

Notwithstanding, if your website is large or you think it will grow to a very large space in the future, go for www domain.

If you have a non-www, it shouldn’t raise any alarm as the slight benefits that www domains  offer can be replicated for non-www domains with some little workarounds. For instance, you can use a separate domain altogether to host your static content. This do away the cookie restriction functionality of a www domain unnecessary.