WWW vs No WWW in URL
Hi! Tried searching the threads, so I didn't have to post my question, but didn't have any luck.
I couldn't figure out why my home page disappeared from the first page of results in Yahoo! for my top keyword. I just happened to click a link to Bruce Clays' page from an article. I tried Bruce's Search Engine Hub and one thing led to another and I found myself on Yahoo! where I typed my business' name into the search box: Peter Drew Voiceovers. Up popped the results and at the top of the list was my DMOZ listing, Drew, Peter - Peter Drew Voiceovers. My actual homepage wasn't anywhere to be seen. So, I typed in my URL: w w w.peterdrewvo. com. Again, not there. What was at the top of the page was http: // peterdrewvo. com. No www!
My site ranks #5 for my top keyword in Google for w w w.peterdrewvo.com. A few other top keywords have decent rankings and I have a few other pages besides my homepage listing well. I get some traffic from Yahoo! but they aren't coming to my homepage, but to lower pages that rank in the top 50 for a couple of keywords. I used to be #3 on Yahoo! for my top keyword and in the top 20 for a couple of others.
I read an article on making the choice between having www start a URL or going www-less, but I can't find it. I believe the article recommended a 301 redirect from the no www URL to the www URL. Is that the correct way to do this? If it is, how do I do a 301 redirect. I've never had to do one before, even though I understand its purpose, and I want to make sure I do it right since this is for my homepage, not a page buried deep in the site.
Thanks!
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