WWW vs No WWW in URL

[pdrew]

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!

[carpediem]

Hi Peter,

Originally Posted by pdrew

how do I do a 301 redirect

One of WPW's moderators (incrediblehelp) has a how-to on this topic already:

301 Redirect Resources and Help - Jaan’s Search Marketing Blog - Toledo, Ohio


You can also search through the WPW threads via operator "site:", as seen here -

WPW - 301 redirect related topics


Danielle

[hostBrain]

Hi Peter,

Yes indeed, the first thing to do, is decide which you prefer. www or non-www
In the ole' days, servers were configured so you had to type in the www before the domain. This is no longer the case.

Personally, i prefer to not have the www. It's 3 less characters in the domain, so it's shorter and it's also 3 less words you have to verbally tell people.

If you are on apache server, you can take advantage of the .htaccess file in the root of your home directory.
Just create one with a text editor and insert the following.

To force your domain to use www

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.peterdrewvo.(.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.peterdrewvo.com/$1 [R=301,L]

To force your domain to use non-www

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.peterdrewvo.(.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://peterdrewvo.com/$1 [R=301,L]

[pdrew]

I was wondering if there was a way to specify which one I wanted in the .htaccess file and I couldn't remember where I'd seen the 301 info. Incredihelp was the one who posted it!

Thanks again for your responses. Much appreciated. Now, maybe I can get my rankings back in Yahoo!.

All the best to both of you.

[chowell]

You can also tell Google exactly which URL you prefer within your Webmaster Tools account, but for Yahoo you'd still need to make the changes to the .htaccess file.

Also, as I experienced earlier today, make sure the syntax of the redirect code is correct or it won't work. Test everything before you move onto your next task.

[SemAdvance]

Originally Posted by chowell

You can also tell Google exactly which URL you prefer within your Webmaster Tools account, but for Yahoo you'd still need to make the changes to the .htaccess file.

Also, as I experienced earlier today, make sure the syntax of the redirect code is correct or it won't work. Test everything before you move onto your next task.

However Google is not the only search engine so notifying Google through the webmaster central tool only fixes things so much.

Another reason to do this server side via htaccess is it will point all of the links to your various URLs, to one main URL, thereby solidifying your PageRank score as well.

This issue has been addressed and resolved for many years on this forum.

[pdrew]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I'll try the .htaccess code and I'll read up on 301 redirects in Incredihelp's blog, 'cause I'm going to have do some redirects soon.

[GonnaLuvIt]

Hi guys, I'm having a similar issue that I quit don't what to do with. Hopefully you can help me.

I have a CNAME Alias set up that masks another. The reason for this is that my website is hosted using Marketworks.com CSM. My business was an eBay business that that grew beyond eBay. My domain covers up the long ugly URL ht*tp://www.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/default.aspx?sfid=XXXX. So if you go to www.mysite.com it turns into ht*tp://www.MYSITE.com/storefrontprofiles/default.aspx?sfid=XXXX . Removing the www’s redirects to the URL with the www’s.

My problem is this: I’m starting a linking strategy and I’m not sure which URL to promote. When I search the inbound links on Yahoo, the www address shows 1,829 (mostly internal links) and removing the www’s shows 38. These 38 inbound links happen to be better links.

So I’m not sure what to do about this. I feel like I have two domains. Is there a way to merge them while not losing any inbound links, such as this mentioned 301 redirect? What should I do from a SEO perspective? Also, does having a masking URL that redirects to another hurt me?

[wetchman]

Great discussion. Here's my take:

You should definitely force one method over the other. A lot of people type in the "www" and a lot don't. Go ahead and force the "www" so that you'll always have it set up to the old standard.

The search engines also can see a "www" site and a non-www site as different. Forcing one will ensure your content all gets indexed under the same site.

Finally, two questions:

1) Is there an official "name" for a non-www domain? Or for the DNS entry you have to make in order for that to work?

2) What's a best practice for forcing the www on an IIS server?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by GonnaLuvIt

My problem is this: I’m starting a linking strategy and I’m not sure which URL to promote. When I search the inbound links on Yahoo, the www address shows 1,829 (mostly internal links) and removing the www’s shows 38. These 38 inbound links happen to be better links.

I would never recommend to promote a URL you don't control or own. Never ever. This will lead to issues down the road. Always promote your won URL, but in your situation with the redirect I wouldn't start a linking strategy until I had website managed under your own domain.

[GonnaLuvIt]

Thanks Incrediblehelp, I will see what I can do.

Josh
Gonna Luv It