SEO UTILITIES
WWW Redirect Checker — Canonical Domain Test
Check whether the www and non-www versions of your domain redirect to a single canonical host. Fixing split versions avoids duplicate-content SEO issues.
A site should live at one address, not two. This tool checks whether your www and non-www versions both funnel to a single canonical host, or whether they each load independently — quietly splitting your site across two versions.
Why one canonical host matters
If both example.com and www.example.com load separately, search engines can index them as two sites. That divides inbound links between the two and can trigger duplicate-content handling, weakening both compared to one consolidated domain.
Neither www nor non-www is inherently better for ranking — pick one and make the other 301-redirect to it. A permanent server-side redirect is stronger and clearer than relying on a canonical tag alone, because it consolidates visitors and crawlers on the single correct host. The ideal result here is one version returning a 301 to the other, and the target returning a 200.
How to use it
- Enter your domain.
- Run the check on both the www and non-www versions.
- Confirm one 301-redirects to the other.
Frequently asked questions
- Both versions load without redirecting — what should I do?
- Add a 301 redirect from the version you don't want to the one you do, usually in your server config, host settings, or CDN rules. Then re-run this check to confirm it's live.
- Does a canonical tag replace the redirect?
- It helps, but a server-side 301 is stronger and unambiguous. Best practice is to redirect at the server level so every visitor and crawler always lands on the single correct host.