www and the bare domain (apex) are two hostnames. Nepal SMEs often launch both, add two Google Analytics codes, and wonder why GSC looks “half indexed.” Arjan KC treats host choice as technical SEO on web — pick one, redirect the rest. This site’s public URLs are apex https://arjankc.com.np. Registrar step: .com.np guide.

→ Technical SEO Nepal · Search Console Nepal SMEs · Hosting Nepal

Why SEO objects assume one host

Fashion e-commerce organic 2,300 → 13,500/month — /case-studies/kathmandu-ecommerce-seo/ — is one live site, not www and non-www competing. Clinic Maps lives on GBP, still needs the website URL in NAP to match the canonical host — /case-studies/kathmandu-healthcare-clinic/.

Image: Arjan KC media library.

The rule

Piece	Do
Public host	https://example.com.np or https://www.example.com.np
Redirect	301 the other host and http:// to that HTTPS URL
Canonical	Self-canonical on the chosen host
Sitemap	Only canonical URLs — robots/sitemap guide
GSC	Domain property (covers both) and published links as the chosen host
GA4 / GTM	One container, company-owned — GTM ownership
Ads / GBP	Final URLs = canonical host

Apex vs www is not “more SEO.” GitHub Pages, Cloudflare, and cPanel all can 301. Migration notes (not this brief): Netlify → GitHub Pages.

Image: Arjan KC media library.

What usually splits in Kathmandu builds

• Facebook Page website field still says www after you “moved” to apex.
• Google Ads final URLs mixed — Quality Score then looks like a mystery.
• Sitemap still lists both.
• Internal links hard-coded the old host.

Fix those before you buy more SEM.

Next: GSC for Nepal SMEs · duplicate GTM · web development.