Redirect www and non-www to a single canonical version

15 min Impact: medium ✓ Manual completion — a permanent stone

Redirecting www and non-www to a single canonical version ensures search engines see one consistent site instead of two potentially duplicate versions competing for the same rankings and splitting your authority signals.

This is a foundational technical fix that directly affects how your ranking signals concentrate — without it, you're potentially diluting your own SEO effort across two URLs instead of one.

How to do it

1

Choose your canonical version

Either www or non-www — no inherent SEO advantage to either, consistency is what matters.
2

Set up a permanent 301 redirect

From the non-canonical version to your chosen one, at the DNS, host, or CDN level.
3

Update your canonical tags and sitemap to match

Every reference to your site should consistently use the same version.

Common mistakes

This overlaps directly with a Hardening Ring check — if that's passing, this is likely already satisfied.

How you will know it is done

The non-canonical variant correctly redirects to your single canonical version.

Set this stone in your hive

The Legacy Ring is permanent — once set, it stays set. This is the kind of work that outlasts any single scan or campaign.

Open this mission in H.I.V.E. →

Redirect www and non-www to a single canonical version

How to do it

Common mistakes

How you will know it is done

Related missions

Set this stone in your hive