Preferred Domain (WWW vs. Non-WWW)

A website can often serve the same content at both a www and a non-www hostname. Choosing one preferred version makes navigation, tracking, canonical signals and external links more consistent. Neither version is automatically more SEO-friendly because of its spelling. What matters is that the intended pages work and unnecessary duplicate URLs resolve predictably.

The usual setup is to select one hostname, configure secure redirects from its alternate, publish self-referencing canonical URLs where appropriate and use the preferred form for internal links and sitemaps. Teams must check that redirects do not create loops or send unrelated URLs to the homepage. SSL/TLS certificates, email settings and third-party integrations may need review as part of a broader host migration.

Google treats redirects and rel=canonical as strong canonicalization signals, but its systems ultimately determine which URL they show. The choice of a preferred domain is related to canonical URLs, yet it refers specifically to hostname variants rather than every kind of duplicate page.