The Same Site Opens Whether You Type www or Not

Type either www.google.com or google.com into your browser, and the same page appears. In the 1990s it was common knowledge that "website addresses start with www," but URLs without the www are now perfectly ordinary. So what exactly is www?

What www Really Is - Just a Subdomain

www stands for "World Wide Web" and is simply a "subdomain" that precedes the domain name.

  • google.com → The domain name (the main part)
  • www.google.com → The www subdomain
  • mail.google.com → The mail subdomain (Gmail)
  • maps.google.com → The maps subdomain (Google Maps)

www was conventionally used as a subdomain pointing to "the web server." It's a remnant from an era when different subdomains were assigned to different services - mail.example.com for the mail server, ftp.example.com for the FTP server, and so on. Knowing how subdomains work is also essential for spotting phishing attempts - learn more in our guide on how to read a URL safely.

Why You Can Access Sites Without www

It's because site administrators configure DNS to point both example.com and www.example.com to the same server. For a full explanation of this process, see our article on how DNS works. Furthermore, most sites set up a redirect (automatic forwarding) from one to the other.

  • Google: google.com → redirects to www.google.com (standardized with www)
  • GitHub: www.github.com → redirects to github.com (standardized without www)

Both behaviors are as of August 2026. Which one a site standardizes on is purely a matter of policy, with no technical advantage either way. Some sites pick the www-less form simply because it makes URLs shorter and cleaner.

The Web's Inventor Regrets Part of the URL Syntax

In the FAQ he publishes at the W3C, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, writes of URL syntax: "I have to say that now I regret that the syntax is so clumsy," adding that the "//" in http:// could have been dispensed with (his FAQ at the W3C). www belongs in the same category of things that could have been left out: since the https:// protocol designation already tells you it is a website, those three letters are technically redundant.

When saying a URL out loud, spending 10 syllables on "double-u double-u double-u dot" is inefficient. There's also the ironic fact that "World Wide Web" is 3 syllables, while its abbreviation "www" is 9 syllables (in English, "double-u" x 3).

Browsers Are Hiding Parts of URLs

A browser's address bar does not necessarily show you the whole URL. The URL display guidelines for Chromium, the base of both Chrome and Edge, state that the scheme should not be displayed where it will always be https://, and the code also includes a mechanism for trimming conventional subdomains such as www. from the display (as of August 2026). To understand the full chain of events triggered when you enter a URL, see what happens when you type a URL.

When accessing IP Check-san, www isn't needed either. You can access it directly with just the domain name.

Summary

www is a remnant of the 1990s convention of using a "subdomain for the web server," and it's technically unnecessary. Plenty of sites standardize on URLs without it. And here's a fun bit of trivia: "World Wide Web" is 3 syllables, but "www" is 9.

Related Terms in This Article

DNS DNS settings that point both www and non-www to the same server make either version accessible. HTTPS Since the https:// protocol designation identifies it as a website, www is redundant. IP Address Both www and non-www resolve to the same IP address via DNS.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does www stand for?

www stands for World Wide Web. In the early days of the internet, the www subdomain was conventionally used to distinguish web servers from other services like email and FTP running on the same domain.

Why does a site open with or without www?

Site administrators configure DNS to point both the www and non-www versions to the same server. Most sites also set up a 301 redirect from one to the other to unify the URL.

Does www vs non-www affect SEO?

Neither option has an inherent SEO advantage. What matters is choosing one and redirecting the other with a 301 redirect. Having both serve separate pages can be flagged as duplicate content.