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www vs. Root Domain (and SSL)

Your domain can work with or without www at the front, and how you set this up affects both search ranking and the little padlock (SSL) in the browser. This article explains the difference and helps you pick a primary address so visitors always land in the right place — securely.

Root vs. www: what's the difference?​

  • Root domain (also called the apex or naked domain): your bare domain with nothing in front, like yourbusiness.com.
  • www subdomain: the same domain with www. in front, like www.yourbusiness.com.

These are technically two different addresses. A visitor could type either one, so you want both to work and to lead to the same site.

Why "apex"?

The root/apex domain is the top level of your name (yourbusiness.com). www is a subdomain that sits underneath it. Both can point to your Kite site.

Pick a primary, redirect the other​

Best practice is to choose one as your primary address and have the other redirect to it. For example, choose www.yourbusiness.com as primary and have yourbusiness.com redirect to it (or the other way around).

Doing this matters for two reasons:

  1. SEO / duplicate content. If www and the root both serve your site as separate addresses, search engines can see them as two copies of the same content, which can dilute your ranking. A redirect keeps everything pointing at one canonical address.
  2. SSL certificate coverage. SSL is what gives you https:// and the padlock. If only one of the two addresses is configured, visitors who reach the other one may see a "Connection Not Private" warning because the security certificate doesn't cover that exact address.
The classic "www shows Connection Not Private" problem

A very common symptom is that the root domain works fine but www shows a security warning (or vice versa). This usually means only one of the two was set up. Make sure both the root and the www records are connected so the certificate covers both.

How to set both up in Kite​

  1. Connect your domain following Connect a custom domain.
  2. Make sure both records are in place — typically an A record for the root (@) and a CNAME for www. The one-click Entri flow normally adds both for you.
  3. Republish your site if prompted.
  4. Give SSL a little time. The certificate is issued automatically after the domain connects, and the padlock may take a short while to appear.
tip

If you're adding records by hand, use the exact values Entri shows you. See the record reference in Connect a custom domain.

Troubleshooting​

  • www works but root doesn't (or the reverse). One of the two records is missing. Add both the root (@) and www records.
  • "Connection Not Private" / SSL warning. Often clears on its own once the certificate is issued and both addresses are configured. Give it time. See Troubleshoot a connected domain.
  • Still seeing the wrong page after redirect. This can be DNS propagation or a stale record. See Changes not showing.