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    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. On-Page Optimization
    4. Can access my site using www

    Moz Q&A is closed.

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    Can access my site using www

    On-Page Optimization
    www to non www ssl
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    • Voopoo
      Voopoo last edited by

      Hello, when I try to access my website using www i would like it to redirect to non www but instead it shows a sal error message.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • PrathameshMW
        PrathameshMW last edited by

        Yes, you can access your website using the prefix "www". The "www" is simply a subdomain that is conventionally used to identify web servers. It is not required by any technical standard, but it is a widely recognized convention.

        In short, you can access your website with or without the "www" prefix. It is simply a matter of personal preference.

        Here are the tutorials I have followed to set redirects with or without www.

        Via cPanel: https://www.milesweb.co.uk/hosting-faqs/redirect-www-non-www-urls-htaccess-cpanel/

        Via DirectAdmin: https://www.milesweb.co.uk/hosting-faqs/redirect-www-non-www-urls-htaccess-directadmin/

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • CraigyT
          CraigyT last edited by

          This is common and can sometimes be easy to fix. Sometimes as simple as the setting of some HTTP rewrite rules in the .htaccess file. You will need to secure your domain for the wildcard domain including www when issuing an SSL certificate.

          If you are using WordPress there are add-ons such as Really Simple SSL to help you with this.

          Example of Rewrite

          RewriteEngine On
          # This will enable the Rewrite capabilities
          
          RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
          # This checks to make sure the connection is not already HTTPS
          
          RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com [NC]
          # Replace domain with your domain.
          
          RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]
          # Replace domain with your domain.
          

          This .htaccess rule will redirect all visitors from the non-www to the www version of your website.

          [https://www.hostinger.co.uk/tutorials/cpanel/how-to-redirect-non-www-urls-to-www](link url)

          This is the most common way however if you use CPanel it might be slightly different you might need to set up a redirect.

          If you use Cloudflare you can just use some page rules and use a forwarding URL with 301 permanently redirected to the non-www of the domain.

          Since we can use both www and non-www make sure your DNS records are updated for both.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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