Getting backlinks to http:// or http://www. ??

I am a little confused with where I should send back links to one of my websites. In Google it is listed like http://sitename.com, but it seems that linking to http://sitename.com and http://www.sitename.com are two different things, even though they are the same site. SO...if I link to http://www.sitename.com, but the site is listed without the www in the search engine, will my back links to http://www. count towards the site rankings even though it is listed without the www. ?

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure but I think that page rank is built separately for the URL with and without the www part. So it's good to be consistent and use one or the other.

 

select one format and stick to it - whatever it may be.

 

this is the best way

 

Absolutely correct... when submitting backlinks try to stick to one URL, such as http://www.yourSite.com (all the time), don't be too concerned if you happen to have backlinks from 2 different formats, that will never do harm, however it is more benificial to stick with one format

 

One should have one redirect to the other so that you have one primary, or "canonical" version of your main domain, and all your PR can be applied to pages delivered on that domain instead of being spread thinner across both versions.

 

You can also make one redirect to another so it's always the one you choose, I use it with www. by the way.

 

In google webmaster tools you can set how google show your page link in results. it could be www or without www.

 

You want to stick with the "http://www" because some websites force you to put the "WWW" in when exchanging links, in link submission forms, some directory submission forms, etc. And, as stated already, its best to stick with one format so why not use the most common one with "www" included? Of course, you can always redirect the ones without the "WWW", but I like to keep the same so when I use yahoo site explorer it shows ALL of the links I've built at one time instead of having to input both "site:http://www.myurl.com" as well as "site:http://myurl.com"

 

This would be my recommendation too!

Shannon

 

Canonical issues can cause problems with site rankings. Take the suggestions above.

 

same with other suggestions, stick with "http://www." and stick with it . But for me, i use both and not feeling any differences between that.

 

I am sure, Mattcutts blog would answer all these questions.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-url-canonicalization/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag-video/

Hope this helps.

 

Use any one and redirect another. I use it without www btw.