You’re driving home from a hard day at work. As you listen to your favorite radio show, an ad comes on for a new website. The host rattles off the URL: www.example.com.
Your interest is sparked. At the first red light, you open up the browser on your phone and type in the URL.
W…
W…
W…
The light turns green, and you’re forced to continue your journey before you can check out the website.
It’s not a big deal, but it got you thinking: do you really need to type in the www when visiting a website?
The answer is no! As a matter of fact, you’d make the world a better place if you would remove www from your vocabulary.
Here’s Why:
It’s a waste of time.
There’s no need to include “www” in the address of your website. It was a URL prefix invented early in the history of the internet and (unfortunately) caught on.
It’s difficult to say
Saying “www dot” adds ten syllables to the address of your website. This makes it more difficult for people to remember and share your website with others.
Plus, the letter “w” is the only letter in the English alphabet that has more than one syllable – and it has three!
It’s an unnecessary expense.
Businesses spend billions of dollars yearly on marketing and advertising to ensure people remember their website addresses. Including “www” in your domain name means you’re spending more money on advertising and marketing than you need to.
It takes longer to type.
Why type three extra characters when you don’t have to? So, the next time you’re about to type “www” into your browser! It’s a wasted effort that does nothing but slows you down.
It takes up more space in the address bar.
The letters “www” may take up a lot of room in your browser’s address bar, especially on mobile platforms. While many browsers now remove the “www” automatically, some still display it, making less of the URL visible.
Now you may be thinking, so what? What’s it matter if my site’s URL is a little longer, or I have to type in an extra couple of characters?
While it may not seem like a big deal, the truth is that every little bit counts when it comes to making your website successful. Every character in your URL is an opportunity for someone to make a mistake. The more characters there are, the greater the chance of a typo.
Plus, the shorter and simpler your URL is, the easier it will be for people to remember and share with others. So do yourself (and the world) a favor: ditch the www!
It uses extra data.
Four extra characters are included in every URL that includes the “www” string (including the final period). A URL with “www.” requires 32 more bits than one without since each character consumes one byte (or eight bits) of data. 32 bits is a modest amount of information; however, when you consider that billions of URLs are visited daily, the wasted data quickly adds up.
It can confuse people.
Is there a “www” or not in your URL? While most web servers change URLs to the appropriate address, some don’t. Remove “www,” and you will help avoid any confusion.
It can cause bounced emails.
People who are not particularly tech-savvy believe they need to include “www” in email addresses because it is on the website. These bounced emails can be prevented by avoiding “www” entirely.
It creates inconsistent branding.
If you have a dot com domain name and you include “.com” in your brand, then why does your domain name start with “www?” Dropping “www” from your web address builds consistency between your brand and your website.
Suppose you’re a company that relies on “.com” for your brand, like Priceline.com or Zillow.com. It would be confusing to have a URL that starts with “www.priceline” or “www.zillow,” right?
So ditch the “www” and make your brand more consistent!
No one says the “world wide web” anymore.
Let’s be honest; no one says “world wide web” anymore. It’s just “the web.” So it doesn’t make sense to include “www” in your website address.
Total transparency here. If you ever say “www” in a conversation with us, we will probably judge you.
Just kidding.
However, we do think it’s time to stop using “www” and start using simpler, shorter URLs that are easier for people to remember.
The future of the web is not on the world wide web.
Wait? What?
The truth is, the future of the web is not on the world wide web. Sure, it’s the websites that we all know and love, but the real future of the internet is in the network of computers and devices connected to it.
The internet of things, or the IoT, is a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and more connected to the internet. These devices collect and exchange data with each other and with humans.
There are apps. According to Statista, over 3.75 Million apps are in the Apple Store alone. That number is only going to grow.
Find more statistics at Statista
So while the world wide web is still an essential part of the internet, it’s no longer the only game in town. And that’s why you don’t need to use “www” anymore.
It could be bad for SEO
Note, we didn’t say that it WAS bad for SEO; we said it COULD be bad for SEO.
The jury is still out on whether or not using “www” in your URL hurts your SEO. Google’s Matt Cutts has said that it doesn’t matter, but some experts believe it does.
Using WWW is old-fashioned, too, and typically unnecessary. (Use it if you need to employ multiple subdomains, though, for efficient site management.) Longterm, you’re typically better off without your W’s. Realize as an indirect SEO benefit, the advantage may be VERY marginal.
— Chris Silver Smith (@si1very) February 8, 2022
While having the www prefix may not directly affect your SEO, it does impact other things like:
Speed
Websites with “www” in the URL tend to load slightly slower than those without it. You could also create unnecessary redirects, which can slow down your website.
User experience
A shorter, more straightforward URL is easier for users to remember and type into their browser. So ditching the “www” could improve the user experience on your website.
404 errors
If you’re not careful, you could end up with 404 errors on your website if someone types in the www version of your URL but you don’t have that setup. They’ll end up on a page that says, “Oops, this link seems to be broken.” Not exactly the best user experience. Don’t miss out on the essential information you need to know about 404 errors! Read this informative blog post now to understand what they are, why they occur, and how to fix them.
Longer URLs
While there are two different camps on whether or not URL length matters for SEO, one thing is certain: shorter URLs are easier for users to remember. So if you’re using “www” in your URL, you’re making your URL longer and potentially more difficult for users to remember.
So while “www” may not directly impact your SEO, it could indirectly impact it in a number of ways.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you don’t need to use “www” in your website address. It’s not necessary, it can be confusing, and it’s not used anymore. So go ahead and ditch the “www” and simplify your URL!
It’s 2022, after all.
So what’s the deal? Do you use www or not? Let us know in the comments below.
