Cloudflare: How To Redirect www to Your Root Domain (Canonical URL)

Learn how to create a 301 redirect in Cloudflare so www traffic automatically forwards to your root domain (canonical URL)

Description

If you own a website, www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com probably feel like the same address.

To a visitor, they usually are. Someone types either version, the same site loads, and nobody thinks twice.

But to Google, those can be two different URLs unless you tell it otherwise.

In this tutorial, you will set up a 301 permanent redirect in Cloudflare so anyone who types the www version of your domain automatically lands on the root domain instead.

For my new site, that means:

www.mikemurphy.ai

redirects to:

mikemurphy.ai

The visitor still gets to the right website. The important part is that search engines get a clear signal that there is one official version of the site.

What You Will Build

By the end of this tutorial, you will have:

One canonical URL for your website
A Cloudflare Redirect Rule that sends www traffic to the root domain
A 301 permanent redirect instead of a temporary redirect
Paths preserved during the redirect
Query strings preserved for tracking links and campaign URLs
A quick browser test to confirm the redirect works
A Chrome DevTools check to confirm the status code is really 301

In my example, the canonical URL is:

https://mikemurphy.ai

The www version still works, but it does not stay on www.

Why This Matters

Before you set up a redirect, you can accidentally create two versions of the same website:

https://www.mikemurphy.ai
https://mikemurphy.ai

Those look nearly identical to a person, but they are different URLs.

That matters because backlinks, SEO authority, and search indexing can get split between the two versions. You may also create duplicate content signals without realizing you created a problem in the first place.

The fix is simple: pick one main URL for your website and redirect the other one to it.

That main URL is called the canonical URL. In plain English, canonical just means “this is the official version.”

There is no universal rule that says you must use the root domain instead of www. You can choose either one. The important thing is that you pick one and stick with it.

For this tutorial, I am choosing the root domain:

URL	Also called	Role
`mikemurphy.ai`	Root, naked, or apex domain	Canonical URL
`www.mikemurphy.ai`	`www` subdomain	Redirects to root

I like the root domain because it is cleaner, easier to say, easier to type, and common for modern websites. But if your brand already uses www, you can make the opposite choice. The concept is the same.

Before You Start

You will need:

A Cloudflare account
A domain added to Cloudflare
DNS for the domain managed by Cloudflare
Your root domain already working
A www DNS record in Cloudflare
Access to the Cloudflare dashboard

This tutorial uses Cloudflare’s Redirect Rules feature. If your domain is on another registrar or DNS provider, the concept is still the same: create a permanent redirect from the version you do not want to the version you do want.

One more note before you start: if your root domain is not working yet, fix that first. This redirect should sit on top of a working website, not replace the basic domain setup.

Step 1: Choose Your Canonical URL

Before you touch Cloudflare, decide which version of your domain should be the official one.

For this tutorial, the canonical URL is:

https://mikemurphy.ai

That means the www version should redirect to the root domain:

https://www.mikemurphy.ai

to:

https://mikemurphy.ai

What success looks like: you know which URL you want people and search engines to end up on every time.

Step 2: Open Your Domain In Cloudflare

In my example, I search for and select:

mikemurphy.ai

Then open the rules area.

You can get there from the left sidebar:

Rules -> Overview

Or, from the domain list, you can use the three-dot menu and choose:

Configure rules

Both paths take you to the same general area in Cloudflare.

What success looks like: you are inside the Cloudflare rules section for the correct domain.

Step 3: Start The WWW To Root Template

Cloudflare includes templates for common rule setups. Think of them like presets.

In the rules area, filter or look for redirect templates. The one you want is:

Redirect from WWW to root

Cloudflare may describe the root domain as the apex domain or naked domain. Those all mean the same thing here.

Click:

Create from template

Cloudflare will open a rule that already works without changes. We are still going to walk through the settings so you know what it is doing.

What success looks like: you are looking at Cloudflare’s prefilled redirect rule template.

Step 4: Name The Redirect Rule

The template may already include a name. You can leave it alone, or rename it to something simpler.

I use:

Redirect www to root

This is just an internal label in Cloudflare. Visitors will never see it, and it does not change how the redirect works.

What success looks like: the rule has a name you will understand later.

Step 5: Keep Wildcard Pattern Selected

Under the matching section, keep:

Wildcard pattern

This tells Cloudflare to match a URL pattern instead of writing a custom expression.

For this tutorial, the template already has the right matching method selected. You do not need to switch to a custom filter expression.

What success looks like: Wildcard pattern is selected.

Step 6: Check The Request URL

The request URL is the incoming URL. In other words, this is what somebody types into the browser before Cloudflare redirects them.

The template should use:

https://www.*

The * is the wildcard.

In plain English, this says:

Match HTTPS URLs that start with www., then capture everything after www.

So if someone visits:

https://www.mikemurphy.ai

the wildcard captures:

mikemurphy.ai

If someone visits:

https://www.mikemurphy.ai/resources

the wildcard captures:

mikemurphy.ai/resources

That matters because we do not only want the homepage to work. We want any www URL to redirect to the matching root-domain URL.

What success looks like: the request URL is https://www.*.

Step 7: Check The Target URL

The target URL is where Cloudflare sends the visitor.

The template should use:

https://${1}

The https:// part stays.

There is no www. in the target URL, because the goal is to remove www.

The ${1} part means:

Use whatever the first wildcard captured.

Here is the full idea:

Request URL:      https://www.mikemurphy.ai/resources
Wildcard capture: mikemurphy.ai/resources
Target URL:       https://${1}
Final URL:        https://mikemurphy.ai/resources

Cloudflare strips off www, keeps the rest of the domain, and preserves the page path.

What success looks like: the target URL is https://${1}.

Step 8: Use A 301 Permanent Redirect

Confirm the status code is:

301 - Permanent Redirect

This is important.

A 301 tells browsers and search engines that the old URL has permanently moved to the new URL. That is the redirect you want for a canonical domain choice.

Do not use a 302 for this setup. A 302 means temporary, which is the wrong signal when you are telling Google which version of your site is official.

Status code	Meaning	Use here?
`301`	Permanent redirect	Yes
`302`	Temporary redirect	No

What success looks like: the redirect status code is set to 301.

Step 9: Preserve The Query String

This is the one box I recommend checking even if the template mostly works without changes.

Turn on:

Preserve query string

Query strings are the extra parameters that sometimes appear at the end of a URL:

https://www.mikemurphy.ai/page?ref=newsletter

With query strings preserved, that redirects to:

https://mikemurphy.ai/page?ref=newsletter

Without this setting, Cloudflare can drop the tracking parameters during the redirect.

For most regular visitors, that might not matter. But if you use newsletter links, affiliate links, UTM campaign tracking, or analytics parameters, preserving the query string keeps those URLs cleaner and safer.

What success looks like: Preserve query string is checked.

Step 10: Deploy The Rule

When everything looks right, click:

Deploy

Cloudflare may show a warning that says the rule may not apply to your traffic.

In the tutorial, I saw that warning because my www traffic was already proxied through Cloudflare. Since that was expected, I kept the rule selected and deployed it anyway.

If you see a warning, pause and read it. The main thing to confirm is that your www traffic is actually going through Cloudflare.

What success looks like: Cloudflare creates the rule and shows it in your list of redirect rules.

Step 11: Test The Redirect In Your Browser

Open a new browser tab and type the www version of your domain.

For my site:

www.mikemurphy.ai

After the page loads, check the address bar.

It should show:

https://mikemurphy.ai

The www should be gone.

Then test a page path too:

www.mikemurphy.ai/resources

That should redirect to:

https://mikemurphy.ai/resources

What success looks like: both the homepage and inner pages redirect from www to the root domain.

Step 12: Confirm The 301 In Chrome DevTools

The address bar test confirms the redirect works.

If you want to confirm the status code, use Chrome DevTools.

In Google Chrome:

Right-click on the page.
Choose Inspect.
Open the Network tab.
Type a www URL in the address bar.
Press Return.
Look for the original request in the Network list.

For example:

www.mikemurphy.ai/resources

In the Network tab, the original www request should show:

That confirms Cloudflare is using a permanent redirect.

What success looks like: Chrome DevTools shows a 301 status for the original www request.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely Cause	Fix
The `www` URL does not redirect	The rule is not deployed or the wrong domain is selected	Go back to Cloudflare, open the correct domain, and confirm the redirect rule is active
The homepage redirects, but inner pages do not	The wildcard pattern or target URL was changed	Use `https://www.*` as the request URL and `https://${1}` as the target URL
The redirect works, but tracking parameters disappear	Preserve query string is not enabled	Edit the rule and check `Preserve query string`
Cloudflare shows a warning during deploy	Cloudflare may not see matching traffic for the rule	Confirm your `www` DNS record exists and traffic is proxied through Cloudflare
Chrome does not show the `301` request	The Network tab was opened after the redirect already happened	Open DevTools first, then type the `www` URL again and press Return
The browser keeps showing an old result	The browser cached the redirect	Test in a private window or clear cached redirects for the domain
You chose the wrong canonical URL	The redirect points to the version you do not want	Edit the rule or create the opposite redirect pattern for your chosen canonical URL

Settings Reference

Use these settings for a www to root redirect:

Rule name:        Redirect www to root
Match type:       Wildcard pattern
Request URL:      https://www.*
Target URL:       https://${1}
Status code:      301 - Permanent Redirect
Preserve query:   Checked

Here is how the wildcard works:

Pattern:  https://www.*
Input:    https://www.mikemurphy.ai/resources
Capture:  mikemurphy.ai/resources

Target:   https://${1}
Result:   https://mikemurphy.ai/resources

And here is the full dashboard path:

Cloudflare -> your domain -> Rules -> Redirect Rules
Create rule -> Redirect from WWW to root
Deploy

What This Unlocks Next

Once this is set up, your website has one clear canonical domain.

People can still type www. Old links that include www can still work. But Cloudflare quietly sends everyone to the root domain you chose.

That gives search engines a cleaner signal, keeps SEO authority focused on one URL, and removes a small but common source of duplicate content trouble.

This is one of those tiny setup steps that is easy to skip when launching a new website. But it is worth doing early, especially before you start publishing content, building backlinks, or sharing the site widely.

Watch The Video

Watch the full tutorial on YouTube: Cloudflare: How To Redirect www to Your Root Domain

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