Generally speaking, when you create a website or a blog it usually can be accessed either through http://www.YourDomainName.com or http://YourDomainName.com. While this feature might appear helpful since it does not matter which format a visitor uses to get to your website. However, it does have some negative repercussions that you might want to be aware of.
Are you aware that search engines like Google, Bing, and others see these as 2 very different websites? Even though they have the same content, the same material on the pages, and literally only exist physically in one place, the search engines treat them as separate websites! “http://www.YourDomainName.com and http://YourDomainName.com are different websites” so sayeth Google (and others!)
Why does this matter to you? It might not. If you don’t care about how search engines rank your website, then it does not matter. If you want to rank well on the search engines and show up on the first or second page of Google, it is a huge deal! Google, et.al, rank your website and pages based on many factors. These include, content, On-page SEO, back links, and other considerations.
Backlinks are links on other websites that link to your website. For example, this link here: All About Gratitude is a back link to AllAboutGratitude.com. If some links go to http://www.YourDomainName.com and some links go to http://YourDomainName.com, you are then聽 splitting the number of backlinks to your website; some go to the first, and some go to the second. Think of it as being good in a couple places, but not great in one place!
Hopefully you will now only use one or the other going forward. If you have a collection of backlinks all over the web that go to both, you can still make things a little better for you. This get just a little bit technical, so ask if you have any questions. You need to set up a聽 a “301 Permanent Redirect” from the “www” version to the NO-“www” version (or the other way around). Once you have the redirect set up,聽 every time a person goes to your website at聽 http://www.YourDomainName.com he/she will be automatically sent to http:/YourDomainName.com. By doing this, you are able to build up the traffic counts to your ‘main’ site.
So, which is better – the www or no www? It does not matter. The important thing is that you are consistent! Pick one version and use that one.
Hey Paul – So the next post can be about how to do the “301 Permanent Redirect” please :)) I have heard this before but never did anything about it. Now I must get it taken care of. Although I am very consistent (I never use the www-LOL). Thanks for a great post and a great site.
Michele Scism
The Results Lady from http://DecisiveMinds.com
Hi, Paul. Thanks for this clear explanation. I have chosen NOT www and I’m pretty consistent, but that doesn’t guarantee that everyone else is consistent. I’m heading over to my site now and set this up!
Thanks again.
Good to know, Paul. I will definitely go and check all my links and set up the redirect. Thanks!
Thanks Paul, that was new insightful information and I really appreciate it. When I went online (way back when) I think I always used www, but today I don’t. I agree with Michele, it would be great to have a post on the 301 redirect. Can it be done via WordPress?
Have a great day & thanks again.
Debra Jason
The Write Direction at http://writedirection.com
I’m with Michele and Debra…I have a basic understanding of the 301 redirects but would love to learn more. This is a great article. I always use without the www and I think most of my stuff is that way. I find it more user-friendly and I never type the www on someone else’s site either but every once in a while run across a site that requires it and it’s frustrating.
Coming up tomorrow…. 馃檪
Thanks!
You are welcome, Michele!
Interesting, thanks for shedding some light on this. I will be aware of this as I start working on my own domain.
Just keep making progress and you can use it whenever you are ready, Cariann!
I had better ask the wonderful person who hosts my WP site if that 301 redirect is set up. I always use the www. but I can get to the site without it and once there, the www. isn’t always displayed.
Thanks for raising this good point.
Important points raised, Paul – there are similar Google search issues with running an American and a British version of a site. I needed to choose between Coloring / Colouring The Wind for my new site. Although British, I opted for the American spelling since I’m likely to get more US readers. I contemplated a mirror site for British readers, but Google could penalize me for that, so I decided just to park a Colour site, with a redirect to Color.
On the issue of www or not. My son recently set up a site using his name. When he told me about it, I automatically typed the www – and got a 404 – Not Found message, because he’d set it up without www. I suspect quite a lot of people are in the habit of typing www when they go looking for a site, so for now at least, that’s what I’m sticking with.
Very interesting, Alan! I had not thought about the spelling of words until you brought it up!
With regards to the www – If you are using WordPress and your domain name does NOT have www and a visitor goes to the www address, WordPress will redirect your automatically! No need to do anything else. This is true, of course, if WordPress was installed on the root of your domain (that means it was loaded directly on your site – not in a directory).
Cheers!
Good information, Paul! I’m looking forward to the “how-to” for 301 Re-directs in your next post.
I am getting ready to post it now! Stay tuned!
Should I change a non-www site to www status, then enter the redirect (a site now with few back inks), or should I leave it as is and place the redirect?
Great question, Don. I would not do that. Personally, I like leaving the www off. If you have a non-www site, most hosting companies (or software) will automatically redirect a request to the “www” request.
Good point, Paul. I never thought about the difference between these two ways of stating the website.
As you know, Pat, the internet is nothing but changing. I remember back in the early days folks had to say, “http://” before giving a web address!
Paul,
Shouldn’t this sentence: “Once you have the redirect set up, every time a person goes to your website at http://www.YourDomainName.com he/she will be automatically sent to http:/www.YourDomainName.com.” be this:
“Once you have the redirect set up, every time a person goes to your website at http://www.YourDomainName.com he/she will be automatically sent to http:/YourDomainName.com.”
?
Thanks for the great tip!
Laurence
Yes it should! And it has been corrected!
Of course, the source and destination could be reversed depending on the preferences of the site owner. So it can also read:
“Once you have the redirect set up, every time a person goes to your website at http://YourDomainName.com he/she will be automatically sent to http:/www.YourDomainName.com.”
Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways!
Be Well.
Paul.
You are providing a great service here. Keep up the good work!
Laurence
You are always too kind, Laurence! Thank you!
Very nice article Paul. I was doing some research on this issue because WordPress has been depracating (removing) the www from the URL in default installs. This is important. For sites like mine that have been around for many years and use wordpress, you simply should not change the practice. In addition, not everything is contained in the .htaccess file so be very careful when you setup wordpress! At one point we had to hack the core files but one also has to remember the settings in the database such as in the options table. So if you make a mistake, you’ll need to correct in with mysql.