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Hey  Stephen, It's not a big issue. You can do it without 301 redirection. You have to verify Google Webmaster with www and without www. Then you can prefer domain as www. By this way you have clear to Google that your preferred domain is with www. Although it's does not matter whether you go with www or without www. But for the better response from search engines you can go with www as you maximum root domain is with www. Please go with www in .htaccess redirection. Let me know if you need more help.