Set A Preferred Domain

Now you're setting a preferred domain for your site.

This communicates to Google that the WWW or non-WWW versions of your site may be used.

For instance, Google can find your site URLs as:

https://example.com, Or

https://www.example.com

Personally, I wouldn't choose the WWW version but prefer the non-WWW version. The WWW version has no effect on your search engine optimization at all.

Thus, what's the essence of choosing a version?

Whichever version of your site you've chosen is what Google will display for your site on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

If you choose the non-WWW version of your site, the WWW won't show in SERPs.

Note that you can invariably select the "Don't set a preferred domain" option.

.... though this is not recommended. Google instructs that the WWW and non-WWW versions of your site domain will be treated as separate references to different pages if you select the "Don't set a preferred domain" option.

You're advised not to choose the "Don't set a preferred domain" option as this can result in low backlinks on the part of your site.

An automatic 301 redirect should be set up in order to redirect backlinks and traffic from the non-preferred version to your preferred version.