I know this may be a touchy subject, but I'd like to give my two cents on the "WWW" vs. "non-WWW" debate. It's another classic example of the infamous "tabs vs. spaces" argument — and for the record: spaces > tabs.
I'll keep this short since it's been covered many times before.
What's the Big Deal?#
The big deal is your SEO and search rankings. In today's landscape, SEO is everything. It's how you separate yourself from the competition, increase your revenue, and grow your exposure. If you sell products online, you want your SEO to be top-notch — a higher ranking means more traffic and more sales.
Any incremental SEO improvement goes a long way, so it's worth evaluating every factor that could affect your ranking. One question developers regularly run into is whether to use "WWW." I worked at a digital marketing agency in Cincinnati where every website was prefixed with "WWW."
I've heard developers ask: "Why would you negatively affect your SEO just for domain aesthetics?" My answer: you're not.
WWW Is Not Better Than Non-WWW#
"WWW" is not better than "non-WWW" — they're equal. Google does not care which version you choose; what matters is that you're consistent. Google treats www.daveberning.io and daveberning.io as two separate websites and will rank whichever one accumulates more visits and authority. That's why it's critical to pick one and stick with it.
If you go "non-WWW," make sure every link to your site uses the "non-WWW" version — and make sure all "WWW" traffic gets redirected to the "non-WWW" URL. The same applies in reverse.
Google does not care one bit which version you choose; just make sure you're consistent!
Still Not Convinced?#
If you're still on the fence, look at how some well-known companies handle it.
Sites Using WWW#
Sites Without WWW#
For written proof, check out this post from Matt Cutts, former head of Google's web spam team. It's from 2006, but the underlying principle — pick one, redirect the other, stay consistent — hasn't changed.
TL;DR#
It doesn't matter which version you use. Google will not favor one URL over the other — just commit to one and redirect the other. And whatever you decide, we can all agree that mixing "WWW" and "non-WWW" across the same site is the one thing you should never do. Same goes for mixing spaces and tabs.