WWW vs non-WWW – SEO Benefits
There are absolutely no SEO benefits of choosing one over another. Even Google has said that it all depends on your preference.
What’s important is that you stay consistent with the one that you chose at the time of starting your website.
In other words, DO NOT change your site URL to add or remove www from it.
You can let Google know about your personal preference, and they will honor it. All you have to do is go in your Google Webmaster Tools account and click on your site.
Next click on the Gear icon towards the top right corner of your screen and select Site Settings.
On the Site Settings screen, simply choose the preferred domain.
Alternatively, if you’re using WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin, it will automatically set canonical URL in your site header which will let Google know of your personal preference.
That’s all what you really have to do.
Before you even consider asking, yes we’re using www on WPBeginner site, but that was a personal preference. On our other site such as list25.com, we do not use www.
It’s just a personal preference that’s it.
Technical Difference between WWW vs non-WWW
When you add www. in front of a site, it acts as a hostname which can help with flexibility with DNS, ability to restrict cookies when using multiple subdomains, and more. Whereas non-WWW domains also referred as naked domains do not have a technical advantage.