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To include the WWW or not?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by athlonin, May 24, 2006.

0
  1. #1
    Hi All,

    From a Rankings/SEO perspective, does it matter if you include the www in your domain name? I would rather exclude it from my name, but I fear sites will automatically link to www.example.com. If I use a 301 redirect, does it avoid this problem and still count the links for SEO?
    SEMrush
    Thanks!
     
    athlonin, May 24, 2006 IP
    SEMrush
  2. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #2
    Do both. It is and should be given that www is (with or without) the same. Anyone that is not mapping both via DNS and or a 301 re-direct is just being lazy, and sloppy.

    Case in point. I am too damn lazy to type www in the address field of my browser. You would be surpised how many sites out there only have www.domain.com configured, and not domain.com. I guess I just don't visit those sites.

    So, create an A record for domainname.com. then a cname for www pointing to domainname.com. then create a vhost for domainname.com and vhost with a 301 redirect for www.domainname.com and you are covered on all fronts.

    IMO, this is and should be standard practice. My copy of "DNS and BIND" is so old, I have no idea if things have changed. I am still following the RFC's as they originally were.
     
    Mia, May 24, 2006 IP
  3. athlonin

    athlonin Guest

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    #3
    Mia,

    I'm not sure if I know how to do all that you suggested. What I have done is add:

    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^example\.com$ [NC]
    RewriteRule ^(.*) http://example.com/$1 [L,R=301]

    to my .htaccess file. This seems to work well. It redirects users who enter http://www.example.com/about --> http://example.com/about.

    Using the above code in my .htaccess file will NOT have NEG effect on my SEO efforts, correct?

    Thanks for your response.
     
    athlonin, May 24, 2006 IP
  4. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #4 
    Options +FollowSymLinks 
RewriteEngine on 
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yoursite.com [NC] 
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yoursite.com/$1 [L,R=301]
    Code (markup):
    Or you could do something as simple as a meta refresh:

    <HEAD> 
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.new.com/new.htm"> 
<TITLE>Page has moved</TITLE> 
</HEAD>
    Code (markup):
    To answer your question, no, using the re-direct will not have a negative affect on you. Some SE's may view www and domain.com as dup content. The only bad affect you may see is if www.domain.com and domain.com were both indexed, as two different sites, the consoldation of the two from the SE's point of view may reduce your overall number of indexed pages.

    In the end, what you are doing looks to be correct.
     
    Mia, May 24, 2006 IP
  5. athlonin

    athlonin Guest

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    #5
    Before I made this fix today, both the www version and non-www version were accessable. I had a few dozen pages indexed before, but now the only page indexed in google is my homepage.

    How long does it take to recover from this mistake?
     
    athlonin, May 24, 2006 IP
  6. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #6
    Do keep in mind that Google is in the midst of some type of update of some kind, the likes we have never seen before.
     
    Mia, May 25, 2006 IP
  7. mikebrad0927

    mikebrad0927 Peon

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    #7
    Just did this fix on one of my sites about two months ago and it took less than a month to correct. Just be sure to get deep links in the meantime so g will recrawl those pages sooner.
     
    mikebrad0927, May 25, 2006 IP
  8. athlonin

    athlonin Guest

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    #8
    Thanks for the help guys. I think my troubles are likely due to these google problems Mia is referring to.
     
    athlonin, May 26, 2006 IP
  9. rehash

    rehash Well-Known Member

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    #9
    rehash, May 28, 2006 IP
  10. maildeepak

    maildeepak Peon

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    #10
    some days back i read a website called no-www.org.... In that, they ask us not to use the www. in domain names. it was a good interesting read. just check that out..

    http://no-www.org/index.php


    anyway...a 301 redirect can be done either from www. to non-www and vice versa and if properly done, i believe there is no reason to be afraid of search engines...

    regards,
    deepak
     
    maildeepak, May 29, 2006 IP
    elcash likes this.
  11. elcash

    elcash Peon

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    #11
    The technically inclined understand that the www is often unnecessary, but I think most people expect to see the w's.

    Here's something to think about: When I am posting a link to somebody's domain I'm usually too lazy to go and look at the site just to see if they prefer to leave off the "www" so by default I put the "www" in there.
     
    elcash, May 29, 2006 IP
  12. athlonin

    athlonin Guest

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    #12
    Right. But technically, with the 302 redirect, the www or non-www link to my page should generate the same page rank for my site. Correct?
     
    athlonin, Jun 6, 2006 IP
  13. MrBounce

    MrBounce Active Member

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    #13
    with a 301 it definately will, 302 probably but 301 is better.
     
    MrBounce, Jun 23, 2006 IP
  14. Mong

    Mong ↓↘→ horsePower

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    #14
    imo reditre www-less to www.domain.com using code (mia's first) thru htaccess file and using 301 redirect.
     
    Mong, Jun 23, 2006 IP
  15. maildeepak

    maildeepak Peon

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    #15
    IMO..i would first check out which one is cached by google...which version of the domain has more backlinks...etc...and then redirect the other to one that has more advantages....although i would prefer non-www to www version...

    regards,
    deepak
     
    maildeepak, Jun 23, 2006 IP
  16. PashaM

    PashaM Peon

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    #16
    where exactly does that code go to? into my .htaccess file?
     
    PashaM, Jun 24, 2006 IP
  17. webmaster

    webmaster Active Member

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    #17
    The main thing is ranking problem what i think, will arise in this. If both of your www. or without www domain index in Google, It will treat that as two similar websites and one can be gone for SPAM case. First of all you should check all your links. how Google is picking without www. domain ? It might be due to your linking method. I think you must have used link somewhere without www in your or your partner website. If it is the problem, just correct it. then you dont need to worry. Whether your www or without www domain is indexing, that should be only one unique on the net.

    Thanks_
     
    webmaster, Jun 24, 2006 IP
  18. maildeepak

    maildeepak Peon

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    #18
    yes...the redirection code will be in your .htaccess file....have a backup of your old htaccess file ...and then add the codes....in case..if something goes wrong..you have your old file to fall onto...

    :cool:
     
    maildeepak, Jun 25, 2006 IP