Which URL Structure is better for SEO – WWW vs non-WWW?

Maximum number of client who knows SEO little or expert level always ask for which one is best URL structure for SEO, WWW or non-WWW. This is very common confusion for developers too. I wanted to help you deciding which one will be best for your website.

Absolutely there is no difference between WWW and non-WWW. It’s completely your personal preference.

Yes, there is a technical difference between those two, I will cover later.

Benefits between WWW vs non-WWW

There are no SEO benefits of choosing URL structure, WWW or non-WWW. Even Google told about this very clearly that it’s completely depend on your preferences. You can choose:
http://www.example.com
http://example.com
https://www.example.com
https://example.com

MOST IMPORTANT: No matter which one you selected WWW or non-WWW, try to use same structure everywhere, even on creating backlinks. Another important thing, redirect visitors to same direction.

Then tell Google which one you selected, Google will honor your preference. How to ask Google for your preference? Just go to your Google Webmaster Tools > select your property > click on Preference on the very top

Then click on Site Settings > then select your preference.

May be you need to verify both WWW and non-WWW, follow Google’s instruction there. If you don’t have Google webmaster tools, follow this tips to have your own Google webmaster tools.

Technical Difference between WWW vs non-WWW

When you will select WWW, its work as a hostname which help of flexibility of DNS, when you will create various sub-domains will be easy to restrict cookies and more. Where non-WWW is refer as a necked domains, don’t have technological advantages.

Yes WWW explained well for these, I liked mostly their site title, is not it?

Why I Preferred WWW rather than non-WWW?

I was searching for best options for OBOYOB, found there are good technological advantages as I already discussed above. While I became confused, I searched for well-renounced sites, what they did. Examples:
https://www.google.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.wikipedia.org/
https://www.mozilla.org/
https://www.yahoo.com/
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

Some other good sites they are preferred WWW, like:
https://twitter.com/
https://moz.com/

Google used WWW everywhere, don’t want to miss the chance to follow. Because Google knows SEO very well, is not it?