Merging Main URL and index.html page

I've heard that if you have your site setup where your main website url and your index.html page are separate (the default setup), then the SE's recognize them as 2 separate pages and this can affect your rankings in the SE's.

How do you go about merging them, or making it so your index.html page automatically opens your main url? I've done it before in the past but can't remember how.


Thanks,
Matthew Keith

 

I'm not sure what you're trying, but usually index.html is your main url. Anyways, you can configure it in apache.

 

I got it figured out, thanks. I guess what I needed to do was use htaccess to redirect the non-www version (websiteurl . com) to the www version (www . websiteurl . com).

 

Ya, redirect is the procedure for it.
But be sure that your redirect is "Redirect Parmanent" ie a 301 redirect. Don't get a 302 redirect, otherwise you will have bigger error to search engines.