Difference Between Registering With 'www' And Without 'www'

They have: 9 posts

Joined: Dec 2009

Hello friends,

I am on the verge of registering a domain, and was wondering if there is any difference (in terms of security, quality or any of the other blah-blah parameters) between having a website called "http://xyz.com" and "http://www.xyz.com"?

Secondly, how does one register a site without the www prefix? I am reading up on the godaddy FAQ, but there is no information about this difference. So perhaps the default is to have a site with the www prefix?

Looking forward to your assistance,

TIA

He has: 635 posts

Joined: May 2007

Your domain name does not include the "www" - that part of an address is known as the sub-domain. It points to a folder on your web site. You can have multiple sub-domains, all registered under the same domain. So you could have "www.example.com," "discuss.example.com," and "blog.example.com," all registered as "example.com."

When you see Web addresses that have no apparent sub-domain (no "www" or other prefix) it's because the "www" has been removed using a file called ".htaccess" or some other programming.

Hope this helps.

Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;

sanseo's picture

They have: 18 posts

Joined: Oct 2010

webwiz wrote:
Your domain name does not include the "www" - that part of an address is known as the sub-domain. It points to a folder on your web site. .......

When you see Web addresses that have no apparent sub-domain (no "www" or other prefix) it's because the "www" has been removed using a file called ".htaccess" or some other programming.

Hope this helps.

yea
www is not a part of domain name its come with hosting. when u host a web than www is also host as a sub domain.

due to some specific coz some web-master hide www or redirect non www to www.

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They have: 9 posts

Joined: Dec 2009

Hello David,

Thanks David for your input. Some further questions are whether I can, as a newbie website owner, modify / amend this .htaccess file? Whether this amendment can be carried out immediately after domain registration but before uploading the web pages (hosting) on some site? Or is it to be done during / after uploading the web pages? Is it too involved, this amendment, or somebody with a smattering of .html can work out the process?

TIA

He has: 635 posts

Joined: May 2007

You likely have a control panel to access your files. If not, you will need to use an FTP program (File Transfer Protocol - different from HTTP). Many editors, such as Dreamweaver, have FTP built in. Personally, I use FileZilla.

In the same folder as your home page, there should be a file called ".htaccess". If you can't see it when you connect, it may be because file names beginning with a full stop are normally hidden. You need to find a setting that reveals normally hidden files.

Make a copy of this file, and save it under a different name, such as "backup.htaccess". Then download the .htaccess file and add the three "Rewrite" lines near the bottom of this page: No-WWW.org.

Upload the modified file and see if it works. If you get an error - likely a "500 Server Error" - replace the uploaded file with the backup you made, then double check your changes. Retry.

You can do this any time after your domain is working.

Good luck.

Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;

They have: 9 posts

Joined: Dec 2009

Hi David,

Thank you for pointing me to no-www. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Indeed, despite my newbie status, I have all along wondered the need to prefix URLs with these three w's. I feel validated that there is an entire group out there which has been thinking along the same lines.

Thanks again!

RTFVerterra's picture

He has: 110 posts

Joined: Dec 2008

Using www or without www is a personal preference. In cPanel it is called "Redirect". What you set in Redirect will be written to .htaccess so no need to manually edit the file.

seo.vijay's picture

He has: 6 posts

Joined: Apr 2010

really such a nice question , i am also want to know about that difference...

They have: 7 posts

Joined: May 2010

Hi David,
In my mind one question arise that is which is better using www or not using www for site.

They have: 20 posts

Joined: Oct 2011

ElaineMorris wrote:
Hi David,
In my mind one question arise that is which is better using www or not using www for site.

While updating your A record in your domain registrar account,use * in place of sub domain.For example enter *.yoursite.com this way when someone input anything in place of * in url of his browser,he will always be redirected to your domain.example fun.yoursite.com or mobile.yoursite.com etc will all lead to your site

[url=http://msearch.gum.lt/codes_for_wapmasters/domains/]Get Your FREE domain[/url]

asdfghjk9's picture

She has: 5 posts

Joined: Feb 2010

I learn here deference with 'www' and without 'www'. Thanks for informative sharing.

They have: 2 posts

Joined: Oct 2010

The www / non www can be easily made with the .htaccess file. Remember that you must have a single version of your site - with or without www.

shinemee's picture

He has: 12 posts

Joined: Nov 2010

Using www or without www is a personal preference.

hosted's picture

They have: 37 posts

Joined: Oct 2010

It's no matter nowadays

They have: 20 posts

Joined: Oct 2011

hosted wrote:
It's no matter nowadays

It will make difference if your visitor want to access your site from url www.yourste.com he will see the error page so its better to use it

[url=http://msearch.gum.lt/codes_for_wapmasters/domains/]Get Your FREE domain[/url]

They have: 6 posts

Joined: Aug 2011

Hi,
Starting the domain name name of your web site with www is a common convention and nothing more. There is nothing in the HTTP specification that says a web site must start with www. or any other prefix.

They have: 1 posts

Joined: Nov 2011

Hi

Will Google see www.xyz.com and xyz.com as a different site or same, and will it affect the keyword positioning???

They have: 45 posts

Joined: Jan 2012

Yes Google will see different site. Select one either go with "www" or " without www"..

gracie's picture

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Jan 2012

There's a lot of difference. Some sites don't resolve this issue. If you go to www.domain.com and domain.com there would be instances that they land on different webpage. it is suggested that you have to declare and fix your www resolve. This could also help to have a better SEO result.

jeanneluv's picture

She has: 22 posts

Joined: Feb 2012

san1965 wrote:
Hello friends,

I am on the verge of registering a domain, and was wondering if there is any difference (in terms of security, quality or any of the other blah-blah parameters) between having a website called "http://xyz.com" and "http://www.xyz.com"?

Secondly, how does one register a site without the www prefix? I am reading up on the godaddy FAQ, but there is no information about this difference. So perhaps the default is to have a site with the www prefix?

Looking forward to your assistance,

TIA

http://xyz.com and http://www.xyz.com has the same domain name: xyz, with TLD: .com

By default, when someone go to http://xyz.com or http://www.xyz.com will directed to the same page result, if they don't change the 'www' behavior to something else.

When someone go to http://www.xyz.com - it will redirected to xyz.com (by default).

In the control panel, you will see 'www' is a folder, similar as sub-domain folder(s).

You can set "target page A" for someone visit http://xyz.com and set "target page B" for someone visit http://www.xyz.com

When you register a new domain name, you don't type "http://" and/or "www." on its prefix. You register your domain name, and TLDs (.com, .net, .org, .info, etc).

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