Redirect www and apex to one host on Apache

Why it matters

Both names serve the site, so search engines see duplicate pages and logins, cookies and HSTS are split between two hosts. Pick one canonical host and permanently redirect the other to it.

The fix

1. Remove www.example.com from the ServerAlias of the main virtual host, add the virtual host below (the certificate must cover both names) and reload Apache.

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName www.example.com
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile    /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
    Redirect permanent / https://example.com/
</VirtualHost>

The examples use example.com. Replace it with your own domain.

Read the documentation ↗(opens in a new tab)

Related

• Reported by the HTTP to HTTPS redirect check
• Serve the site over HTTPS
• Stop redirecting HTTPS to HTTP
• Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
• Fix the broken HTTPS redirect chain
• Shorten the redirect chain
• Fix the HTTP redirect chain
• Redirect HTTP straight to HTTPS
• Answer HTTP with a redirect to HTTPS
• Make the www or apex name work over HTTPS