How to Redirect a non-www. URL to a www. URL

Your domain works with and without "www" in front of it, but browsers and search engines treat example.com and www.example.com as two separate sites. Without a redirect, your ranking signals, backlinks, and crawl budget get split between both versions. A 301 redirect from the non-www version (also called the "apex" or "naked" domain) to the www version consolidates everything under a single canonical URL.

This guide covers why you should pick one version, the different methods to set up the redirect, and the DNS and HTTPS complications most guides skip. For a broader overview of how redirects work, see our Complete Guide to URL Redirects.

Key Takeaways

• Non-www (apex) and www are treated as separate domains by browsers and search engines, splitting SEO signals if both resolve
• A 301 redirect consolidates link equity, crawl budget, and analytics under your preferred version
• The www subdomain has a technical advantage: it allows cookie scoping, keeping cookies off static asset subdomains
• HTTPS complicates apex redirects because the source domain needs a valid SSL certificate before any redirect can execute
• DNS-based redirect services handle certificate provisioning automatically, avoiding .htaccess access or server configuration

What Does the www Subdomain Do?

The "www" in a URL is technically a subdomain of your root domain. In www.example.com, "www" is a subdomain of example.com (the apex domain). The "www" prefix originated as a convention to distinguish web servers from other services like FTP or mail, but it stuck around because it offers real technical advantages.

The most significant one is cookie scoping. Cookies set on example.com are sent to every subdomain (cdn.example.com, api.example.com, blog.example.com). Cookies set on www.example.com stay on that subdomain, keeping your static asset and API subdomains clean. For sites that serve assets from subdomains, this reduces unnecessary request overhead.

From an SEO perspective, search engines treat the www and non-www versions as separate sites unless you tell them otherwise. Running both versions without a redirect creates duplicate content and splits your ranking signals. The fix is simple: pick one version and redirect the other with a 301.

Why Redirect Non-www to www?

Redirecting to a single URL version has four practical benefits:

1. Consolidated SEO signals: all backlinks, domain authority, and crawl budget flow to one version instead of being split across two.
2. Consistent user experience: visitors always arrive at the same URL regardless of which version they type, bookmark, or click from a search result.
3. Clean analytics: traffic data for each page lives under one URL. Without a redirect, the same page accumulates data under both example.com/page and www.example.com/page, fragmenting your reporting.
4. No duplicate content risk: search engines do not have to guess which version is canonical. You tell them explicitly with a permanent redirect.

Ways to Redirect Non-www to www

The standard approach is a 301 redirect from the apex domain to the www version. A 301 tells search engines this is a permanent move, transferring your ranking signals to the destination URL.

There is one complication most guides skip: HTTPS. If anyone visits https://example.com (the non-www version), the server needs a valid SSL certificate for that exact domain before the redirect can execute. Without it, browsers show a security warning and the redirect never runs. This is the single most common reason apex-to-www redirects fail silently. For the technical explanation, see why HTTPS redirects break.

Option 1: Manually via .htaccess

If you have access to an Apache server, you can add the following to your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Replace "example.com" with your domain. Note that this redirects to https://, not http://. In 2026, there is no reason to redirect to an insecure URL.

The risk: .htaccess controls your server configuration, and a syntax error can take your site offline. You also need a valid SSL certificate on the non-www domain for HTTPS visitors. If your hosting provider does not issue certificates for the apex domain, this method silently fails for HTTPS traffic.

Option 2: Via your DNS provider

Some DNS providers offer built-in redirect features. There is an important DNS limitation to understand first: you cannot place a CNAME record on an apex domain. This is an RFC restriction, not a provider limitation. Apex domains require A records (pointing to an IP address) or provider-specific workarounds like ALIAS or ANAME records.

Namecheap allows URL Redirect Records in the Advanced DNS tab. You can forward the apex domain to the www version directly. Learn more at Namecheap.

AWS Route 53 requires creating an S3 bucket configured for website hosting with a redirect rule, then pointing an A record (alias) to that bucket. It works but involves multiple AWS services. See AWS documentation.

Cloudflare offers Redirect Rules (previously Page Rules) that can handle apex-to-www redirects. Cloudflare also supports CNAME flattening, which works around the apex CNAME restriction. If you already use Cloudflare for DNS, this is a viable option.

GoDaddy provides domain forwarding through its DNS management interface. See GoDaddy's forwarding guide. Note that GoDaddy's forwarding does not always handle HTTPS on the source domain.

Option 3: Via your CMS

WordPress offers redirection plugins that can handle non-www to www redirects. WordPress also allows you to set your preferred URL version in Settings > General. Learn more about WordPress subdomain configuration.

Webflow handles non-www to www redirects in project settings. See Webflow's guide.

Wix provides a URL Redirect Manager in the site dashboard under SEO Tools. Learn more about Wix subdomain configuration.

Option 4: Via a DNS-based redirect service

Dedicated redirect services handle the two problems that make the other options difficult: SSL certificate provisioning and DNS configuration. You point your apex domain's A record to the service, it provisions a certificate automatically via Let's Encrypt, and the 301 redirect works for both HTTP and HTTPS traffic from day one.

This approach requires no server access, no .htaccess editing, no CMS plugins, and no manual certificate management. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see our domain redirect setup guide.

Benefits of Using redirect.pizza for Your Non-www Redirects

Each method above has trade-offs: .htaccess requires server access and manual SSL handling, DNS providers vary in redirect support, and CMS plugins only work within their platform. A dedicated redirect service handles the hard parts in one place.

How to Set Up the Redirect with redirect.pizza

Redirecting www to Non-www (The Reverse Direction)

Not every organization prefers the www version. Some choose the cleaner apex URL (example.com) as their canonical domain and redirect www.example.com to it. The mechanism is identical: a 301 redirect, just in the opposite direction.

The same rules apply. You need a valid SSL certificate on the www subdomain (the source) for HTTPS visitors. You need to update your canonical tags, sitemaps, and internal links to reflect the non-www version. And you need to be consistent: pick one and redirect the other.

The technical difference is that redirecting FROM the www subdomain is often simpler than redirecting from the apex domain. A CNAME record on www.example.com works without any RFC restrictions, and most DNS providers support it natively. The apex-to-www direction is where DNS limitations create complications.

Frequently Asked Questions