The Strange Case of the missing WWW.

Derrick0408 · 08-13-2009, 12:09 AM

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or if it even matters!
My new website seems to be missing a www. prefix.
By example it looks like this:

http://mysite.com

whereas I think it should look like this:

http://www.mysite.com

The page loads fine, so perhaps I shouldn't be worried but my concern is with broken URLS and being indexed.

Has anyone else had this problem?
All the best, Derrick

Voasi · 08-13-2009, 12:11 AM

Websites can have both non-www and www versions. Search engines typically don't like this (Google especially) because it's hard for them to decipher which page is the "real" site and which one is just a copy.

You need to 301 redirect whichever version you want to keep to the other. Look up htaccess 301 redirect and you'll see articles on how to do this.

Istvan Horvath · 08-13-2009, 12:12 AM

No need for the www.
But use ONLY one - otherwise google might see it (an index it) as two separate websites.
Go to G. webmaster tools and decide which one you will use and then stick to it.

BTW, it is not a "prefix" - it is an obsolete subdomain.

George Wright · 08-13-2009, 12:17 AM

Hi,

I've never used the www at all when typing a URL in IE. I always use it when linking to my site. At least now for the past few years I do. The WWW is "understood" in most cases. However I've ran across a few sites where you have to type it.

Of course when you type just the word and "Control Enter" IE defaults to WWW and .com

George Wright

Derrick0408 · 08-13-2009, 12:25 AM

"Of course when you type just the word and "Control Enter" IE defaults to WWW and .com"

This is the strange thing, when I try this trick, Firefox enters the WWW. for a split-second and then it disappears and all I get is http:mywebsite.com
As mentioned, the site works fine, but it seems to be there is some sort of error somewhere along the line and I don't want broken URLS etc.

I'm wondering what could cause my website to drop the www. from its URL?

FifthDimension5 · 08-13-2009, 12:28 AM

In google webmaster tools you can change the prefix - with or without the www when google starts indexing your site, apart from that, you could use a htaccess file in your web hosting so you can redirect all www requests to the domain.com equivalent. (without the www)

guillopuyol · 08-13-2009, 12:30 AM

There are some types of content management apps like wordpress that ask you how you want to display the url... links shouldn't break in a normally working site because the www is a subdomain of your site and it is in a way the default subdomain.

I would recommend as The Pension Guy did, that you stick to only one or else the link juice you get will be divided. I did this early on and I linked to

www . mysite . com/index.htm
mysite . com
mysite . com/index.htm

Although these are all essentially the same page, search engines see them as different entities.

Weeeeiird...

-G

mikeyman120 · 08-13-2009, 12:45 AM

Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www. Do you have a blog at http://mysite.com

If your talking about this site - http://dogtrainingnetwork.ning.com/ that is normal.
Mike

Derrick0408 · 08-13-2009, 01:01 AM

"Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www."

The main page for my domain is my Wordpress Blog - I think you've have solved my problem, thanks!
I had no idea that wordpress drop the www. so I imagine that doesn't hurt with rankings etc.

My only further question is if I tell people which website to visit verbally it could be awkward as most people expect to see WWW. and even on business cards but I guess if I just said mywebsite.com then it will work anyway.
Thanks so much to everyone for responding!

mikeyman120 · 08-13-2009, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derrick0408

so I imagine that doesn't hurt with rankings etc.

I don't know anything about seo. But my wordpress blogs always show up near the first page of google for a keyword or two relating to the blog and I don't have a clue why. I just use keywords for the tags and ping my blog after every update. Although I think it pings for you. My regular websites are nowhere to be found in google.

Mike

guillopuyol · 08-13-2009, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derrick0408

"Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www."

The main page for my domain is my Wordpress Blog - I think you've have solved my problem, thanks!
I had no idea that wordpress drop the www. so I imagine that doesn't hurt with rankings etc.

My only further question is if I tell people which website to visit verbally it could be awkward as most people expect to see WWW. and even on business cards but I guess if I just said mywebsite.com then it will work anyway.
Thanks so much to everyone for responding!

Well... although the standard setting for Wordpress is to drop the www, you can go to the settings and change your blog url from mysite.com to www .mysite.com (without the space...)

That will make it so that it always shows up as www.your site.com

-G

Lloyd Buchinski · 08-13-2009, 02:13 AM

I don't do a lot of surfing, but I have never typed in the www for years. I thought everyone understood that this isn't needed anymore, but when I passed on a url without the www, a couple of people thought they had to type it into the google search box to try to get more info and find the site (!) They didn't realize you could type just domain.com in the address bar and get to the site.

Most control panels let you set up your files in the www section or the other one but I have never used the www section, so can't even remember what it is called.

Rob Anderson · 08-13-2009, 03:02 AM

oh.
and i thought that it was only like that on sub domains.

ok.
rob

Eric Graudins · 08-13-2009, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyman120

Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www.

Whether or not your website works with or without the www depends on how your web hosting company has configured your account.

The majority of companies set things up so that your domain works with or without the www prefix.

If they have not done this, you will get an error message if you try to go to a website without using www.

cheers,
Eric G.

JayXtreme · 08-13-2009, 04:02 AM

Domain Canonicalization

^^ Google it, and sort your site out, before you start splitting your page rank dead in half.

Peace

Jay

08-13-2009, 12:09 AM	#1
Derrick0408 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 101 Thanks: 181 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts	The Strange Case of the missing WWW. Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or if it even matters! My new website seems to be missing a www. prefix. By example it looks like this: http://mysite.com whereas I think it should look like this: http://www.mysite.com The page loads fine, so perhaps I shouldn't be worried but my concern is with broken URLS and being indexed. Has anyone else had this problem? All the best, Derrick

08-13-2009, 12:11 AM	#2
Voasi AKA: Adam Maywald War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Orange County, CA, USA Posts: 1,052 Thanks: 56 Thanked 214 Times in 137 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. Websites can have both non-www and www versions. Search engines typically don't like this (Google especially) because it's hard for them to decipher which page is the "real" site and which one is just a copy. You need to 301 redirect whichever version you want to keep to the other. Look up htaccess 301 redirect and you'll see articles on how to do this.
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08-13-2009, 12:12 AM	#3
Istvan Horvath Watching you... War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Waterdown, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,963 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 1,574 Thanked 2,712 Times in 1,651 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. No need for the www. But use ONLY one - otherwise google might see it (an index it) as two separate websites. Go to G. webmaster tools and decide which one you will use and then stick to it. BTW, it is not a "prefix" - it is an obsolete subdomain.
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08-13-2009, 12:17 AM	#4
George Wright You R GREAT if you are A War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Shakey/Sunny CA, USA. Posts: 6,759 Blog Entries: 31 Thanks: 2,919 Thanked 1,835 Times in 737 Posts	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. Hi, I've never used the www at all when typing a URL in IE. I always use it when linking to my site. At least now for the past few years I do. The WWW is "understood" in most cases. However I've ran across a few sites where you have to type it. Of course when you type just the word and "Control Enter" IE defaults to WWW and .com George Wright
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08-13-2009, 12:25 AM	#5
Derrick0408 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 101 Thanks: 181 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. "Of course when you type just the word and "Control Enter" IE defaults to WWW and .com" This is the strange thing, when I try this trick, Firefox enters the WWW. for a split-second and then it disappears and all I get is http:mywebsite.com As mentioned, the site works fine, but it seems to be there is some sort of error somewhere along the line and I don't want broken URLS etc. I'm wondering what could cause my website to drop the www. from its URL?

08-13-2009, 12:28 AM	#6
FifthDimension5 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 186 Thanks: 4 Thanked 24 Times in 20 Posts Social Networking	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. In google webmaster tools you can change the prefix - with or without the www when google starts indexing your site, apart from that, you could use a htaccess file in your web hosting so you can redirect all www requests to the domain.com equivalent. (without the www)

08-13-2009, 12:30 AM	#7
guillopuyol HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Katy, TX , USA. Posts: 290 Thanks: 18 Thanked 25 Times in 18 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. There are some types of content management apps like wordpress that ask you how you want to display the url... links shouldn't break in a normally working site because the www is a subdomain of your site and it is in a way the default subdomain. I would recommend as The Pension Guy did, that you stick to only one or else the link juice you get will be divided. I did this early on and I linked to www . mysite . com/index.htm mysite . com mysite . com/index.htm Although these are all essentially the same page, search engines see them as different entities. Weeeeiird... -G

08-13-2009, 12:45 AM	#8
mikeyman120 Mike-Nagle.com War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: NY, USA Posts: 984 Thanks: 180 Thanked 172 Times in 102 Posts Social Networking	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www. Do you have a blog at http://mysite.com If your talking about this site - http://dogtrainingnetwork.ning.com/ that is normal. Mike

08-13-2009, 01:01 AM	#9
Derrick0408 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 101 Thanks: 181 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. "Wordpress blogs that are self hosted at least don't have the www." The main page for my domain is my Wordpress Blog - I think you've have solved my problem, thanks! I had no idea that wordpress drop the www. so I imagine that doesn't hurt with rankings etc. My only further question is if I tell people which website to visit verbally it could be awkward as most people expect to see WWW. and even on business cards but I guess if I just said mywebsite.com then it will work anyway. Thanks so much to everyone for responding!

08-13-2009, 02:13 AM	#12
Lloyd Buchinski copy and paste geek War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Calgary Posts: 1,388 Thanks: 68 Thanked 166 Times in 138 Posts	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. I don't do a lot of surfing, but I have never typed in the www for years. I thought everyone understood that this isn't needed anymore, but when I passed on a url without the www, a couple of people thought they had to type it into the google search box to try to get more info and find the site (!) They didn't realize you could type just domain.com in the address bar and get to the site. Most control panels let you set up your files in the www section or the other one but I have never used the www section, so can't even remember what it is called.
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08-13-2009, 03:02 AM	#13
Rob Anderson HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Johannesburg. South Africa Posts: 223 Thanks: 178 Thanked 64 Times in 27 Posts	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. oh. and i thought that it was only like that on sub domains. ok. rob
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08-13-2009, 04:02 AM	#15
JayXtreme Lookin at You.... War Room Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Out Of My Mind - Brandy Too Posts: 4,120 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 2,885 Thanked 1,344 Times in 710 Posts Social Networking	Re: The Strange Case of the missing WWW. Domain Canonicalization ^^ Google it, and sort your site out, before you start splitting your page rank dead in half. Peace Jay
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