WWW vs Non-WWW Configuration

Choosing and Configuring Your Canonical Domain

Every site should have a single canonical URL — either www.example.com or example.com (without www). Using both without a redirect causes duplicate content issues for SEO and can trigger redirect loops.

Choosing Your Canonical URL

• Non-WWW (example.com) — shorter, modern, preferred by most new sites
• WWW (www.example.com) — allows CNAME at root (useful for CDNs), easier cookie scoping

Neither is technically better. Pick one and be consistent.

Step 1: Set WordPress URLs

sudo wp option update siteurl "https://example.com" --path=/home/DOMAIN/public_html --allow-root
sudo wp option update home "https://example.com" --path=/home/DOMAIN/public_html --allow-root

Step 2: OLS Redirect Rule

Add a redirect in your OLS vhost configuration to redirect the non-canonical version. For non-www canonical (redirect www to non-www):

# In vhconf.conf rewrite section
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://example.com$1 [R=301,L]

For www canonical (redirect non-www to www):

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

Step 3: DNS Configuration

Ensure both versions resolve:

Type	Name	Value
A	@	YOUR_SERVER_IP
CNAME	www	example.com

Step 4: Cloudflare Page Rules (If Using Cloudflare)

If using Cloudflare, add a Page Rule for the redirect instead of doing it at the OLS level:

• URL: www.example.com/*
• Setting: Forwarding URL (301)
• Destination: https://example.com/$1

Verify

curl -sI https://www.example.com | grep -i location
# Should show: Location: https://example.com/