http:// or http:/www. ?

Hi,
Looking for advice - does it really matter whether the address when placing links gives the address as http://mypage.com or http://www.mypage.com. Have read a few posts which mention this but can't seem to find a definative answer. I think most of my internal links include the www but for some reason (laziness I guess) when placing external links in articles, ads etc I have always used just http://mypage.com. Would it better if all links internal and external (a bit late for me now!) had a consistant address. I am asking because backlinking work done previously with just the http:// address seems to have worked okay for my pages - so does it really matter?

 

i prefer without www because there is a www in the memory of people

 

For a long domain name, I prefer url without www. But for short domain name I'm still using www.
In both case I'm using htaccess mod_rewrite to keep all visitor coming to the url I want.

 

You should do all links the same way no matter wich one you pick. It does not matter wich one you use but make sure to use same one every time.

 

I always use with www. but that is not import as long as which ever one you choose you make you you always promote that version and in you Google webmaster central you tell Google which is your preferred version.

 

www. is much better half the people I talk to think you have to type www. so that means a lot of visitors will type that in.

 

I feel the www version is the best option. Most important is to stick to one link format. Most webmasters will link to you using www

 

The issue isn't what visitors are typing in to access your site, it's how your getting linked to.

 

It does matter, if you check your backlinks using the www and non www you see different numbers.........use .htaccess to point everything to www.

 

www. sounds better

 

If you ask about internal links, then this is not important probably. You should worry about external links - I mean - link building should go in one, consequent way.

 

You'd be wrong ...

 

I take it WordPress.com doesn't use WWW, since all the posts, links, etc. within my blog don't have it, but when I link to my homepage I use www.

Is this okay?

 

That's because when you did the wordpress installation, you didn't include the www. Go to Options, and change the link format of the homepage.

 

I'm not telling a lie but I know that one could not access the website of one of the biggest Telcos (and IPs) in Asia if "www" is not typed like http://thattelco.xxx (not. com, .net or .org), must be http://www.thattelco.xxx
I guess because they are so big (and a monopoly) they are not bothered about it.

Regarding www or no www, I will give an example.

If you search for mysite.com at Google, a few seconds ago the result would be "Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 926,000 for mysite.com. (0.35 seconds)"
If you search for www.mysite.com at Google, a few seconds ago the result would be "Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 300,000 for www.mysite.com. (0.15 seconds)"
A different of 626K of URLs.
I wonder why.

The older generation still type "www" and their smses are longer. They have more time during their retirement I guess.

 

Just use mod_rewrite to redirect all inquiries to www. that way you can consolidate all your links to one URL and not worry what people are using to link to you.

Here is a quick tutorial http://www.jonsimpson.co.uk/weblog/2006-02-19/301-redirect-non-www-to-www.html

 

you should go with one - with WWW or with out WWW. If your internal site navigation is with WWW then all the back links to your site should come with WWW. It will help you. See if its different then your page rank important will divide into 2 version. search engines take both them as different url.

Its always better to go with 1 version and you should use 301 redirection.

 

As dhruv37 said, it really doesn't matter but you need to use one or the other, if you mix it (I learned the hard way) you will have a split PR for the two versions. I prefer www because the average person thinks you need that to get to a site.

 

Essentially it makes no difference at all. As long as you pick one and redirect the other (301 redirect) to your preferred.

 

+1 on mod_rewrite. If you simply want to use no www, you can also use the No WWW plugin which performs a 301 redirect - http://photomatt.net/2006/06/13/wordpress-no-www/.

Regards,

Robert