In the realm of website management, a technical issue often arises that may not be immediately apparent but can have a significant impact on website accessibility, SEO, and overall user experience. This issue revolves around correctly configuring redirection between the www and non-www versions of a website. Although these two versions may seem identical, from a search engine's perspective, they are two distinct addresses, which can lead to content duplication and a decrease in the website's ranking in search engine results.
What are www and non-www versions?
From a technical standpoint, www (World Wide Web) is a subdomain of the main domain. Historically, it was used to distinguish web services from other services running on the same domain, but nowadays, its usage is more of a convention than a technical necessity. The non-www version, therefore, is access to the domain without the www prefix.
Why are redirections between www and non-www versions important?
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SEO (Search Engine Optimization): If search engines like Google find content available under both versions of the domain, they may interpret this situation as duplicate content, negatively affecting the website's ranking in search engine results.
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User Experience: Proper redirection ensures that users are always directed to the preferred version of the website, leading to a consistent user experience.
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Security: Redirection also ensures that all communication occurs over encrypted connections if HTTPS is part of the redirection setup.
How to address redirection issues?
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Choose a Preferred Version: Decide whether you want to use the www or non-www version of the domain as the primary one and consistently use it in all marketing materials and links.
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Set Up 301 Redirects: Using the .htaccess file (on Apache servers) or the appropriate configuration on other types of servers, you can set up permanent redirection from the non-preferred version to the preferred one. This ensures that all traffic is routed to the correct address.
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Update robots.txt and sitemap: Ensure that search engines index only the preferred version of your website by updating the robots.txt file and sitemap.xml.
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Verify Ownership of Both Versions in Google Search Console: This allows you to monitor and manage how Google indexes both versions of your website and ensures that all links point to the preferred version.
Properly configuring redirection between www and non-www versions is crucial for the success of your website on the internet. Not only does it aid in search engine optimization, but it also enhances user experience and improves the security of your website. It's important to pay attention to these details and ensure that your website is accessible and effectively indexable by search engines.
