How to Check That www and non-www Redirect to the Same Address

To check that www and non-www go to the same place, open the domain four ways and see where each one ends. The four are http://example.com, https://example.com, http://www.example.com and https://www.example.com. The www redirect checker follows each through up to five redirects and reports Consistent, Temporary redirects, One version fails, Split: two versions, No HTTPS redirect or Unreachable, with every redirect code and the final address. You can paste one domain or up to 100 (500 after a Google sign-in).

Why all four versions should end at one address

To a browser and a search engine, those four are four different URLs. If two of them serve the page without redirecting, the site exists twice: links and signals are split between the copies, and a search engine picks one as canonical, which may not be the one you'd choose. Google's guide to duplicate URLs lists redirects as a strong signal for which copy is canonical.

Which host you pick, www or bare, doesn't matter much. What matters is that all four reach it, over HTTPS, in as few hops as possible. A missing version is the other common fault: a www with no DNS record, or a bare domain whose certificate only covers www, gives some visitors an error page instead of the site.

Step 1: enter the domain

Paste one domain, or a list one per line. A leading www. is removed, since both versions are tested anyway.

Step 2: run the check

Press Check redirects. Each of the four start URLs is opened and followed through up to five redirects. It tests the home page only, and follows HTTP redirects (3xx with a Location header); JavaScript and meta refresh redirects aren't followed.

Step 3: read where each version ends

For each of the four you get the redirect codes along the way and the final address. The overall status:

Status	What the four versions do	Fix
Consistent	All reach one HTTPS address through 301 or 308 redirects	Nothing
Temporary redirects	All reach one HTTPS address, but a hop is 302, 303 or 307	Make the redirect permanent (301 or 308)
One version fails	The rest agree, but one doesn't answer, often www with no DNS record	Add the DNS record and certificate, then redirect it
Split: two versions	They end on different hosts, so the site is served twice	Redirect one host to the other
No HTTPS redirect	An http:// version stays on HTTP	Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

301, 302, 307 or 308

A permanent move should use 301 or 308 (RFC 9110, sections 15.4.2 and 15.4.9). 302, 303 and 307 say the move is temporary, so a search engine may keep showing the original URL. 307 and 308 also promise that the request method stays the same, which matters for form posts and not for a home page. Google's redirect documentation treats 301 and 308 as permanent and 302 and 307 as temporary.

Plain HTTP should always end on HTTPS. Once it does, the Strict-Transport-Security header (RFC 6797) tells browsers to skip the HTTP hop on later visits. The security headers checker shows whether it is set.

Step 4: fix what it flags

Split. Pick the host you want and redirect the other to it with a 301 or 308, at your host, CDN or web server. Do both the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the redirected host.

One version fails. Usually the DNS record for www is missing, or the certificate doesn't cover the name. Add the record (see the bulk DNS lookup to confirm what exists), make sure the certificate covers both names, then redirect. A wildcard certificate for *.example.com covers www.example.com but not example.com itself, so the bare domain needs to be listed too. The bulk SSL checker shows which names a certificate covers.

Temporary redirects. Often a default in a hosting panel or CMS. Change it to permanent once you are sure of the final host.

No HTTPS redirect. Add an HTTP to HTTPS redirect at the server or CDN.

After a change, run the check again. Caches at your CDN or in browsers can show the old behaviour for a while.

After a migration or relaunch

Run the check after any site move, and read it together with the guide to auditing redirects after a site migration. A migration is when www and bare versions most often end up split, and when 302s left over from testing get left in place.

Check a portfolio of domains

Agencies and owners of many domains can paste up to 500 a run when signed in and download a CSV with one column per version. For domains that fail, see whether they are parked or down with the bulk website status checker, and read check if a list of websites is online.

What this check can't do

• It tests the home page only; deeper paths can redirect differently.
• It follows HTTP redirects only, not JavaScript or meta refresh.
• Sites that answer differently by country, device or bot detection may show a different result from where you are.
• It doesn't judge your SEO. It reports what the four URLs do.

If the domain is one you email from or to

A domain that doesn't resolve properly for visitors often has other problems too. Check that mail works with check if a domain accepts email, and check the addresses themselves on the verify page: the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.

Check your own domain

Enter it in the www redirect checker. It makes four requests per domain and shows the result in seconds. For lists and recurring checks of email addresses, see bulk email verification and pricing.