Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Can access my site using www
-
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.
-
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/
-
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.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Moving site from www to non www and also hosting to vps what will be the effect?
Hi SEO gurus,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SeoBlogs61
I am trying to move my site from shared hosting to VPS hosting and also moving from www to non www version.
What is the best possible way to avoid any issue and without losing the backlinks.
Is it good or bad to do? URL: https://buylikesservices.com/0 -
On Site Question: Duplicate H2...
Hi All A few on-site audit tools pull information on duplicate H2 tags on pages. This implies it's a bad thing and should be fixed - is that the case? On one of my sites the tag-line is in H2 in the header, so appears on every page... Just wondering if this is something worth fixing. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | GTAMP0 -
Can you use the canonical tag and rel=next and rel=prev on category pages.
We have a conflict of information between our web developers and our SEO company. We are an on-line retail company hence we have a fair number of different categories. Our site is set up with the rel=next and rel=prev tags. Our SEO company have asked us to implement canonical links on our category pages and leave the rel=next and rel=prev tags as they are. Our web developers are saying by doing this we are asking Google to ignore all of our products on all of the pages except page 1 which would mean Google would not index a lot of our products. I have looked at a few articles but I am struggling to understand which way to go. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | Palmbourne0 -
Is Disqus comments useful as per SEO?
Is Disqus comments useful as per SEO? We have some comments on each of our pages and its time taking to moderate them, so wanted to know if its beneficial in any ways for SEO?
On-Page Optimization | | bsharath0 -
Using a dash or underscores in file names.
Is it better to use a dash or an underscore in file names to improve SEO? EX memory_flash.jpg or memory-flash.jpg Or does it make no difference?
On-Page Optimization | | Robotnik0 -
Tags vs. Categories? What should I use?
I'm starting with a blog (self-hosted wordpress) and I'm thinking of the following content structure so that the readers are easily able to locate relevant content: Background: It's a blog which gives people relevant info about government jobs. To start with we will just be publishing information about these jobs but over a period of time also intend to post content that helps readers prepare for these jobs. In other words, right now it's just about detailed job notifications but in the coming months, we shall also post about preparation-related information. Typically, each of the job notifications can be bifurcated like: Jobs basis industry Banking Railways Clinical, etc. Jobs basis company ABC co. DEF co. XYZ co. etc. Jobs basis State / City City 1 City 2, etc. Jobs basis educational qualification Graduation Post-Graduation, etc. Now, I'm seriously confused how should I structure this data from the perspective of Categories & Tags such that it's reader as well as SEO-friendly. Do note that each of the government jobs post ideally falls in a couple of above mentioned categories. Thanks..
On-Page Optimization | | Shalin.TJ0 -
Can I use Same Keyword for Multi pages Title Tags?
Hello All, I am working on client website and currently they are targeting One Keywords for multi pages. As I have search with Allintitle: Search query and Google display around 37 pages of website which carry same keyword in "Title Tags". I have told to client to change the "Title Tags" but they want that keyword for all relevant pages. So I want to know is that harm in Search Engine Ranking? Note: They have not done the link building activities for multi pages with same Keyword, they are using only in "Title Tags" only
On-Page Optimization | | jemindesai0 -
Using commas in the title tag?
Is there a disadvantage/advantage to using commas to separate words in the title tag. Which will be more effective as a title tag: "keyword1 keyword2 - Brand" OR "keyword1, keyword2 - Brand"?
On-Page Optimization | | Audiohype0