Benefits of removing 'www' from your URL

[JonathanB]

Here's an article you folks might be interested in. It makes a lot of sense from a search engine optimization standpoint.

From the website Wisdump (formerly Whitespace):
Benefits of removing 'www' from your url

[Vin DSL]

I don't think there is any benefit. As a matter of fact, I add the 'www' as much as possible...

[JonathanB]

From the article:

You work hard to get your site placed highly in the search engines. However, you find that different search terms use different pages on your site depending on how people link to you. Some may prefer to use the “www” while others will leave it off. You shouldn’t have to worry whether your www. domain has a higher ranking than your non-www. domain.

The problem is that the search engines see these as two different domains. If you are using Apache and have access to .htaccess files the best thing to do is redirect all your urls to either use “www” or not.

The benefit is from a search engine standpoint. The title of the article is a little misleading. Basically, it's recommending to either use www or don't, but permanently redirect all requests from the one you don't want to have to the one you do. So whether people link to your site's content as http://www.example.com/article-99 or http://example.com/article-99, search engines only see the one place for the article, instead of two. Which gives you a better search engine ranking.

[Vin DSL]

...t's recommending to either use www or don't...

Yes, I'll agree there's definitely a benefit to doing THAT!

However, one isn't any better than the other. I simply prefer having a 'www' up front...

Here's how I (usually) do it:

# Force 'www' and redirect (temporarily disabled).
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^lenon\.com$                              [NC,OR]
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^69.73.166.75$
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.lenon.com/$1                         [R=301,L]

I've had it disabled, for a while, to allow some experimenting...

[Connie]

You should pick one or the other and use a 301 redirect so that only one version is served.

The advantage to using the www version is because more people are used to seeing that at least in the USA. The big .coms advertise on TV and I don't think I have ever seen an add for domain.com.

[AdrianB]

This is more or less exactly what Jag said in the JagBlog:

http://www.jaguarpc.com/blog/?p=7

[JPC-Greg]

that article wasnt written by me, look at who posted it

[the_ancient]

You should pick one or the other and use a 301 redirect so that only one version is served.

The advantage to using the www version is because more people are used to seeing that at least in the USA. The big .coms advertise on TV and I don't think I have ever seen an add for domain.com.

Alot of non-tech people think you HAVE TO HAVE the www

[Connie]

Alot of non-tech people think you HAVE TO HAVE the www

Agree which is the reason I use the www version. Most sites that link to you naturally will use the www version in my experience.

Why do you need to 301 redirect? See what a Google engineer says http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-ad...onicalization/

I will be the first to admit that Google does not always handle redirect perfectly and that probably applies to Yahoo and MSN.

I prefer to do what is suggested.

For those who do not know every person who post on the Jag blog may not be affiliated with Jag. You do have to be approved by Jag to post on the blog but anything I post their is strictly MO just like anything I post in this forum.

Not even considering SEs this forum is a good example of why a 301 redirect should be used.

Every link to a thread that I have seen contains the www. I think that is a forum default. My book mark is for domain.com. What happens? I can't read the thread unless I log in again or edit the link in my address bar.

Greg since you want to use domain.com you should redirect www.domain.com for users if nothing else.

[Ron]

Yeah... forum.jaguarpc.com and forums.jaguarpc.com both work as well. I use the former, and when people post a link to www.jaguarpc.com/forum it wants me to log in as well...

[Connie]

Yeah... forum.jaguarpc.com and forums.jaguarpc.com both work as well. I use the former, and when people post a link to www.jaguarpc.com/forum it wants me to log in as well...

Yes either one will work, if you want to log in again. A simple 301 redirect would solve the problem of logging in again. SE friendly and user friendly.

Why should I have to log in again to read a comment that has been linked to in the forum? I don't think I should have to.

[JonathanB]

I haven't been reading the JagBlog. If I would have seen your post Connie, I would have learned about this three weeks ago.

I may be a little behind, but at least I catch on eventually!

[Vin DSL]

Why should I have to log in again to read a comment that has been linked to in the forum?

We're kindred spirits, Connie!

If I log into something, mark your calendar, it's a special occasion!

Basically, it's a control issue, and Vinnie don't play that game, generally speaking...

That's why I was so upset about Webmasterworld. Who the phuck are they to make ME login -- really! Brett Tabke is probably queer -- that son of a bitch! If it wasn't for jdMorgan... well... whatever!

[BernardBlack]

So how can I make a 301 page so that if someone goes to http://www.example.com/ they are told to go to http://example.com/? Where and how can I make these 301 pages?

Thanks

[Connie]

Thats done with a .htaccess file and mod_rewrite.

Here is what I use.
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain\.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]

Change domain to your domain name.