www Redirect Checker

Free www Redirect Checker — Verify Your Website's www Redirect for SEO and Duplicate Content Prevention

One of the most fundamental and most commonly misconfigured SEO technical issues is the www vs non-www redirect — whether your website correctly consolidates all versions of your domain into a single canonical URL. A website accessible at both www.seotoolsn.com AND seotoolsn.com (without proper redirection between them) creates duplicate content — two separate URLs serving identical content, potentially splitting link equity and confusing search engines about which version to index and rank.

SEOToolsN's free www Redirect Checker tests both the www and non-www versions of any domain and verifies the correct redirect behavior — confirming that one version redirects to the other with a proper 301 (permanent) redirect, showing the redirect chain followed, and identifying any misconfiguration where both versions serve content independently or redirect incorrectly. Verify your website's canonical URL configuration is correct and fix any redirect issues that may be silently fragmenting your domain's SEO authority.

The www vs Non-www Problem Explained

Why Both Versions Existing Is a Problem

When Google encounters both www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com serving identical content without proper redirection, it sees two separate websites with identical pages — a classic duplicate content situation. The search engine must decide which version to index and rank, potentially splitting ranking signals between versions. More problematically, backlinks pointing to www.yourdomain.com and backlinks pointing to yourdomain.com accrue link equity to different URLs — preventing the full consolidation of your domain's link authority into a single, powerful canonical destination.

The Correct Configuration

The solution is simple: choose one version as your canonical URL (either www or non-www — there is no SEO advantage to either choice) and implement a 301 permanent redirect from the other version to your chosen canonical. Every request to the non-canonical version should instantly redirect with a 301 to the canonical version. This tells search engines definitively which URL to index, consolidates all link equity to a single destination, and prevents duplicate content issues permanently.

How to Use SEOToolsN's www Redirect Checker

• Step 1: Navigate to the www Redirect Checker on SEOToolsN.com.
• Step 2: Enter your domain name — e.g., seotoolsn.com (without www or https).
• Step 3: Click Check Redirect.
• Step 4: The tool tests both http://www.domain.com and http://domain.com (and HTTPS versions).
• Step 5: Review the redirect behavior for each version — does it redirect? To where? With what status code?
• Step 6: Verify the redirect chain — is it a direct 301 redirect or does it go through multiple hops?
• Step 7: Confirm the final destination URL is your intended canonical version.
• Step 8: Check both HTTP and HTTPS versions for correct redirect behavior.
• Step 9: If redirect is missing or incorrect, implement the fix in your server configuration or .htaccess.
• Step 10: Retest after implementing the fix to confirm correct redirect behavior.

Competitor Comparison — www Redirect Checker Tools

Tool	Both Versions	Chain Analysis	HTTPS Check	Login Required	Free
SEOToolsN	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	100% Free
RedirectChecker.org	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Free
SmallSEOTools	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Free
SEOReviewTools	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Free
Screaming Frog	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Freemium
Ahrefs Site Audit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paid

 

Fixing www Redirect Issues

Apache (.htaccess) Fix

For Apache servers (most shared hosting), add these lines to your .htaccess file to redirect non-www to www: RewriteEngine On, RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC], RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]. Or to redirect www to non-www: RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC], RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1/$1 [R=301,L]. Most cPanel hosting providers also offer a 'Redirect' tool in their control panel for simple redirect configuration without editing .htaccess directly.

Nginx Fix

For Nginx servers, add a separate server block for the non-canonical version that redirects to the canonical. For non-www to www: server { server_name example.com; return 301 https://www.example.com$request_uri; }. This explicit separate server block for the non-canonical version with a return 301 directive is cleaner than complex rewrite rules and works efficiently at the Nginx level.

WordPress Fix

WordPress users can configure the canonical URL through Settings > General — set both WordPress Address and Site Address to your preferred canonical version (with or without www). WordPress then handles redirects for the non-canonical version automatically. Confirm the redirect is working correctly with the www Redirect Checker after changing WordPress settings, as server-level configurations may override WordPress settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use www or non-www as my canonical URL?

There is no SEO advantage to either www or non-www — choose based on your preference, brand identity, and any existing backlink pattern. If your site already has significant backlinks to one version, make that version your canonical to avoid link equity loss from a redirect. For new websites, non-www is slightly simpler to type and has become the modern convention — but www remains equally valid. The critical requirement is consistency: choose one version and redirect the other permanently.

What if my website has no redirect at all between www and non-www?

If both versions serve content without redirecting, implement the redirect immediately. While duplicate content penalties are rare, the link equity fragmentation is real and ongoing — every backlink to the non-canonical version is contributing to that version's authority rather than your canonical domain. The sooner you implement the redirect, the sooner all link equity consolidates to your canonical domain. Google typically respects 301 redirects and transfers link equity within weeks of the redirect being established.

Do I need to set a preferred domain in Google Search Console?

The preferred domain setting in the old Google Search Console has been deprecated — Google now relies entirely on 301 redirects and canonical tags to determine the preferred version of a domain. Ensure your 301 redirect is correctly implemented (verified by the www Redirect Checker) and use canonical tags consistently throughout your site pointing to your preferred URL — these signals together communicate your preferred canonical domain to Google more reliably than the deprecated preferred domain setting.

Conclusion

The www redirect is one of the most basic but most impactful technical SEO configurations — properly consolidating all domain versions into a single canonical URL ensures all link equity flows to one destination, prevents duplicate content indexing, and presents a consistent domain identity to both users and search engines. The www Redirect Checker makes verifying this configuration instant.

Check your website's www redirect configuration with SEOToolsN's free www Redirect Checker. Verify both versions redirect correctly with 301 status codes to your canonical domain, fix any misconfiguration in your server settings, and build the technically clean domain foundation that maximizes the SEO value of every backlink and every page of content you publish.