These days, it;’s easy to forget that www domains even exist. After all, even domains that begin with www don’t require you to type it into the browser in order for it to work. But that doesn’t mean that they’re obsolete because they’re certainly not. We’re going to discuss what this all means and what the pros and cons of using a www domain are, so read on to find out everything you need to know.
THE ORIGINS AND REASONING BEHIND WWW
All a website needs is a server and a domain name, and these days users can access your website regardless of whether there’s a www domain or not. It used to be the case that www indicated the store of files for sharing on the web, but websites don’t work in that way today. But there’s still a decision to make regarding when it comes to setting up your website and choosing a domain name.
THE IMPACT ON SEO
One of the things you might be thinking about when waking up your domain name options is SEO, at least it should be. However, it doesn’t matter too much which you choose from an SEO point of view. It’s more about the branding and technical capabilities of your website. You should choose one as your preferred choice so that Google doesn’t treat them as two distinct websites. You can do this using server-side 301 redirects. The one you choose is known as the canonical domain name.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT DOMAIN
Lots of people find the non-www domains far neater and more appealing and that’s understandable. But it’s also important to consider other things to consider relating to the technical capabilities offered by non-www domains. From a branding point of view, non-www win out, but there are some things that www domains do very well and that’s what we’re going to talk about next, so keep reading.
WHEN IS WWW USEFUL?
In order to handle a lot of traffic, it’s important to use CDNs but to do that, it’s necessary to use a www domain because non-www are not be pointed to a CDN domain, at least not in a way that’s simple and straightforward. That’s a significant drawback when it comes to managing traffic. If you want to make sure that your website is as fast as it can be and as secure as it can be, hosting static content separately is the way to go, and therefore, using a www domain is the best route for you to take.
www or Non-www?
Each website is different and it’s important to take the unique characteristics of your website or the website you’re looking to build into account when deciding whether you should choose a www domain or a non-www domain. It might seem like a small choice or but it can make a real difference to how your website operates going forward. SEO is not going to be a major factor when making this decision though, so don’t worry about that.