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Do you include "www." when linking?

by Brendan Mace
50 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey guys,

I just want some clarification on this. I remember someone mentioning that you shouldn't link either with 'www.' or without it. But I can't remember which.

Or does it matter? Anybody know?
#include #linking #www
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Grant
    If you're not linking with the www or without the www, how are you linking?
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    • Profile picture of the author Brendan Mace
      Originally Posted by Mike Grant View Post

      If you're not linking with the www or without the www, how are you linking?
      I mean one or the other.

      When you link to your page do you include 'www.'

      for ex,

      <a href="http://(www.)yoursite.com"> Keyword </a>

      does it matter if you alternate using 'www.' should you stick to one or the other? Does it matter which one you choose? etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author anwar001
    I do it without www. Anyone else does it differently and notices good results?
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    • Profile picture of the author arttse
      It is critical to link either with or without the www (and stick to either one consistently).

      To determine which one to use have a look how google has indexed your pages (ie with or without the www) and use the same method.
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      • Profile picture of the author OmarNegron
        Originally Posted by arttse View Post

        It is critical to link either with or without the www (and stick to either one consistently).

        To determine which one to use have a look how google has indexed your pages (ie with or without the www) and use the same method.
        yep I agree with this.

        My SEO guy told me the same thing. When you are indexed see what version is indexed whether www or non. Then backlink which ever version is indexed from then on.

        -Omar
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  • Profile picture of the author ameen01
    I usually use www for linking ....
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesMSpacey
    I go without.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
    Originally Posted by co2 View Post

    Hey guys,

    I just want some clarification on this. I remember someone mentioning that you shouldn't link either with 'www.' or without it. But I can't remember which.

    Or does it matter? Anybody know?
    It doesn't matter so long as you are consistent.

    Set your site to default to one or the other, and then link only to that form. If you set your site as http://www.mysite.com, then don't link to http://mysite.com. If you f*ck up, and add links to the wrong form (or haven't been consistent in the past, then 301 redirect the form that you don't want into the form that you do want in your htaccess file.
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    • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
      Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin View Post

      It doesn't matter so long as you are consistent.

      Set your site to default to one or the other, and then link only to that form. If you set your site as http://www.mysite.com, then don't link to http://mysite.com. If you f*ck up, and add links to the wrong form (or haven't been consistent in the past, then 301 redirect the form that you don't want into the form that you do want in your htaccess file.
      This is the perfect answer.
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    • Profile picture of the author Guru SEO
      Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin View Post

      It doesn't matter so long as you are consistent.

      Set your site to default to one or the other, and then link only to that form. If you set your site as http://www.mysite.com, then don't link to http://mysite.com. If you f*ck up, and add links to the wrong form (or haven't been consistent in the past, then 301 redirect the form that you don't want into the form that you do want in your htaccess file.
      +1 for Tom


      If you go to a backlink checker like majesticseo you would see a different number of backlinks for non.www and www domains.

      You would also see in Google webmaster you can set the preferred domain non www or www. This would sujest that they are treated different in a Seo standpoint.

      I personally use a non www domain ,link to that domain and also do a*301 redirect to the www domain. I have also read that doing the redirect is required to limit duplicate content*(I don't beleive it to be true, but could be a valid point to check out)
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  • Profile picture of the author simonheng82
    if my site is indexed with www but was linked from other site without the www, i mean natural linking. Does this means that i am not going to get the link juice? How can i control the websites that are interested in linking to my website and requesting them to include the www?

    From my opinion, does this www stuff really affecting one's site ranking? I dont think so. Just my 2 cents and sorry for my english...

    Simon
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    • Profile picture of the author arttse
      Yes it does affect your rankings.

      Do a 301 redirect (as explained by Tom above) and you will be fine.
      Originally Posted by simonheng82 View Post

      if my site is indexed with www but was linked from other site without the www, i mean natural linking. Does this means that i am not going to get the link juice? How can i control the websites that are interested in linking to my website and requesting them to include the www?

      From my opinion, does this www stuff really affecting one's site ranking? I dont think so. Just my 2 cents and sorry for my english...

      Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonas B
    www is a subdomain of your domain, so if your linking to www.mysite.com then your linking to a subdomain of mysite.com! mysite.com is your domain, so i think you better link to this one
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    • Profile picture of the author arttse
      That is incorrect.

      A subdomain is:

      www.keyword.websitename.com


      Originally Posted by zebix View Post

      www is a subdomain of your domain, so if your linking to www.mysite.com then your linking to a subdomain of mysite.com! mysite.com is your domain, so i think you better link to this one
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by zebix View Post

        www is a subdomain of your domain, so if your linking to www.mysite.com then your linking to a subdomain of mysite.com! mysite.com is your domain, so i think you better link to this one
        Originally Posted by arttse View Post

        That is incorrect.

        A subdomain is:

        www.keyword.websitename.com
        Zebix is correct, the www is a "third level domain name", which makes it the same as a subdomain.

        I prefer using the www version simply because many forums and blogs will automatically convert the www version to a clickable link.

        However, the best bet is to make sure to take care of this issue in your web admin and have both with and without pointing to the same place.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dele
    It sure is critical for your site rankings, to link with either www. or without depending on which one your site actually uses. It is also important to identify your preferred version in your webmaster tools account.

    This you can control but since others may be linking to your site indiscriminately, best to do a 301 redirect of one to the other for both your website and blog so that you "capture" all SEO effects.

    This, you can get your web host to do for you or at least in my case, hostgator got it done for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author App Developers
    I go without and stick to one way consistently. I will check to make sure after reading these replies that with and with out both point to the same place!
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  • Profile picture of the author afam4eva
    You can link with either of them. But whichever one you decide to use just keep it consistent.
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  • Profile picture of the author mandark
    It is critical to link either with or without the www (and stick to either one consistently).

    To determine which one to use have a look how google has indexed your pages (ie with or without the www) and use the same method.
    This is completely correct - don't forget to check Google as well as Yahoo/Bing to see how your site is indexed (with or without www), and stick to linking to that.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Williamson
    Tom hit the nail on the head, whichever you start with, stick with it, as consistency is key.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kirahster
    If you are just starting to build links to your site check out which version is already indexed in the SERPS. Keep building links to this version.
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  • Profile picture of the author sanamuskan
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    yes i include when i link my website or blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nelson Felix
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    i'd like to redirect my tld to www, so everytime i would go www link
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  • Profile picture of the author fmathd
    i link only to site .com and redirect www . site . com to site .com
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  • Profile picture of the author SeoWizzard
    depdends on how my websites are set up... if, afterthe website has loaded it doesn't have "www" then I link without it.... on the other hand, if it has then I link with it. It's simple
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  • Profile picture of the author arttse
    Its also important to check how your inner pages are indexed.

    If for example an inner page ends with a forward slash (eg /) then all your backlinks should include a forward slash.

    Here is an example:

    If your site is indexed like this...

    www.example.com/page1/

    All backlinks should use the following version...

    www.example.com/page1/

    and never this version...

    www.example.com/page1
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  • Profile picture of the author chinabness
    I just focus on one.
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  • Profile picture of the author xaimgenesis
    yeah i do use www and i think you should have to because its a way to backlinking
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    • Profile picture of the author forest l
      It does not matter you use www or not because the webpage is indexed in google serp in such a way that it create two kind of pages one which is starting from www and other one starting form http...so in case you do not add www, still your page will be redirected to the page of your website.
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  • Profile picture of the author imagetypers
    I use www.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    This questions does not even come up with me, that was one of the FIRST "lessons" i learned when i started IM, thanks to "Rich Jerk"

    All sites have a redirect in .htaccess which add the www. part
    So..yes i am *always* linking to the "www."
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  • Profile picture of the author sumtaru
    hello, You can link in 3 ways
    www
    http
    and both
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  • Profile picture of the author murrad
    Normally I use www while linking and there is not big difference with & without www.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnasthlon
    Everything depends on your redirection and promotion. If your redirecting to your all pages to non-www to www version then you should link your pages with www formate.
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  • Profile picture of the author matricresult
    i think with www is gud. and we should use it...
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  • Profile picture of the author dotnetappdevelopment
    I habitually use www for linking
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  • Profile picture of the author prian
    is there any difference?
    I personally always use the full adress (since its not written on the page) http://www.mysite.com
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonbourne9839
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author james7
      It totally depends on you which version you want to promote and want to get traffic from that version.
      I think www version is good because you not lose the direct traffic in this case.
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  • Profile picture of the author atifpasha13
    i go without www because i think short urls give little more strength to the next keywords in the url so keeping the url shorter is better. I think so, am i wrong?
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  • Profile picture of the author samual james
    it depends you need to check what version is indexed by google and from which version you are getting ranking. Use the same version from which you are getting ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author UW
    what if your site is indexed with a "/" at the end. should you link to your site with a "/" at the end? or should i not even worry about it? thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Fixers
    Just depends how your site is set up. If it is set up with the address with a www then link with a www but if set up without then link without. You should always have your site with a redirect from one to the other so your site only uses one, this way if you get any natural links to the wrong one the juice will still flow to your domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author The A
    yeah, the result is different with "www" included or excluded. which one you should go? it depends on your cname record. To find it out, try to type your domain in your browser without "www" if it then shows your name along with "www" you should link along with it, otherwise you won't get the benefit of the link juice as you direct it wrong.

    ex: try to type warriorforum.com, it will turn out to be www.warriorforum.com

    I my self never use "www" because all of my domains are set up without it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mantasmo
    It doesn't matter and every large site with a natural link profile has backlinks with and without "www". Just be sure to set up your redirects properly.
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