WWW Record

What This Check Does

The WWW Record check verifies that an A or CNAME record exists for the "www" subdomain of your domain (e.g., www.example.com). Many users still type "www" before domain names or have bookmarks and links using the www prefix.

DNS Spy queries for A and CNAME records at the www subdomain. If neither exists, this check fails.

Why It Matters

Despite the trend toward using bare domains, "www" remains deeply ingrained in user behavior. If a user types www.example.com and no DNS record exists for it, they will see an error page. This creates a poor user experience and can result in lost traffic, especially from less technical users who expect the www prefix to work.

Best practice is to have the www subdomain either serve your site directly (A record) or redirect to your bare domain (CNAME to the apex). Either way, a DNS record must exist to handle the request.

Good vs. Bad Configuration

Bad Configuration

No A or CNAME record exists for www.example.com. Users who type www.example.com see a DNS error, even though example.com works perfectly.

Good Configuration

www.example.com has a CNAME record pointing to example.com, or an A record pointing to the same IP as the apex. Users can access the site with or without the www prefix.

How DNS Spy Monitors This

DNS Spy queries for A and CNAME records at the www subdomain during every monitoring cycle. If no record is found, an alert is triggered. DNS Spy also monitors for changes, ensuring the www record is not accidentally removed during DNS configuration updates.