: My webpage works using HTTP, but not using www I'm sorry to repeat this question as I saw it was previously asked. I would just like the answer in something that a complete idiot and newbie

@Speyer207

Redirect non-www to www using GoDaddy’s Subdomain Forward

Source:


I have not personally tested this method and as mentioned earlier in
this tutortial I recommend you always do redirects on the hosting
level for various reasons. In the event that you prefer this method
and it doesn’t work let me know.

Step 1: Login to GoDaddy.

Step 2: Click my account.

Step 3: Expand the domains list by clicking the plus sign.

Step 4: Click launch on the domain that you wish to setup the forward.

Step 5: Now find forward and click it… now you want to click again but
this time on forward subdomain.

Step 6: Now you should notice that a popup box has appeared, you want
to enter the sub domain as www and then type the full address like the
example below.


I decided to do a write up on this on my blog but decided not to include the pictures on here since well GoDaddy are often updating their panel and I imagine the pictures will become dated in good time. Editing an answer is easier than having to go back and edit pictures. Anyhow. This question has also be asked on PRO Webmasters before here: How to forward non-www to Using Godaddy DNS Manager and you can find more information on GoDaddy's site here: Forwarding or Masking Your Domain Name.

I personally recommend that you do not proceed with a redirect on a DNS level since these changes take longer to take place than that using a htaccess file. You should opt to use a htaccess method which you can find many Q&A here on Pro Webmasters such as What are the most commonly used and basic Apache htaccess redirects?.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Megan663

Your question is not easy to understand. It would help if you provided an example of what works (i.e. using HTTP) and what does not work (i.e. using www).

However, I've noticed that some people believe that all web addresses should start with www, and become frustrated when they don't. In other word, they believe that an web-address typed like this:
example.com

also can be typed like this:
example.com

This is not the case. In the first addrsss, HTTP tells the web browser what protocol to use. Since HTTP is the default protocol, typing this:

example.com


will also work.

However example.com is a different address, and will not necessarely work.

I suspect that this may be your problem.

If that is the case, you need to set up example.com to be an alias for, or to forward to, example.com. You do this in the DNS control panel at your ISP (GoDaddy).

The simplest thing to do is to set up a CNAME record where example.com points to example.com in your DNS configuration. Ask GoDaddy support for help if you can't figure out how to do this yourself.

In all the examples above, replace example.com with your actual domain.

Vote Up Vote Down