Help! I think I've messed up seo links with 'www'

by hbteos234

Posted: 12 years ago 16 replies

I think I've messed up the www vs non-www aspect

I've been doing some seo for a site and I have not seen any improvement on it so far. Well, I recently realized that the site is listed in google as "http://mysite.com", meanwhile I have been buliding links to it as "http://www.mysite.com"

My webmaster tools is set at "Don't set a preferred domain", so I guess the non-www domain got picked up. Should I change it? I have read that having links point to both the www and the non-www version can qualify as duplicate(canonical) content and get penalized. is this true?

What is the best way to fix this? Any suggestions are appreciated

#links #messed #seo #www

GodMode52 12 years ago

Set up an automatic re-direct and you will be fine.
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hbteos234

12 years ago

Thanks,

Since I have more links pointing to the www version than the non-www, would it be better if I change my 'preferred domain' in webmaster tools to go to the www version?

I would then 301 redirect the non-www to the www

Would this direct all my juice power to the www version?

Thanks
2 replies

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Hossain

12 years ago

Originally Posted by hbteos234

Thanks,

Since I have more links pointing to the www version than the non-www, would it be better if I change my 'preferred domain' in webmaster tools to go to the www version?

I would then 301 redirect the non-www to the www

Would this direct all my juice power to the www version?

You just dont need to be worried about decay factor of PR when you are doing 301 redirect. Just redirect the non www version. You would be fine.

PS: If still confused PM me. I can show you proof. Sorry I cant show the website and keywords here in public place.

[ 1 ] Thanks

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MatthewWoodward

12 years ago

Originally Posted by hbteos234

You should do exactly that!

Thanks

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SuzanneH 12 years ago

IMHO, stick to the version that Google has indexed. I personally wouldn't mess around with that -- but you probably could do it as long you redirected.

Having said that, building links is bad mojo. That tactic will come around and bite you...

Suzanne
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ZmB 12 years ago

Do what Godmode said.

I had the same problem but I asked SEOMOZ and they said as long as you have the redirect on there, it's fine.
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GSX 12 years ago

Check what Google has indexed when you see your site in SERP's and link that one, then 301 the rest over, should be a quick fix.
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Theeban 12 years ago

Continue building links to "http://www.mysite.com", Google will get it once it will see more backlinks. Also, try to change "http://www.mysite.com" in webmaster, just forget links to "http://mysite.com" - I don't think this will lead to penalty...
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- addlinkweb 12 years ago
  
  1. Set www version as your preferred domain.
  2. make a 301 redirect from non www version to www version on your website
  3. Google will send a message that your preferred domain is changed to www version
  Google will realize that both www and non www version back links targets the same web page
  
  [ 1 ] Thanks
  
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hbteos234 12 years ago

Thanks everyone for your input, however...

The Plot thickens!

How coincidental? Apparently google just introduced a new option on webmaster tools called 'index status' that show how many pages have been indexed and an advanced option also shows the number crawled vs the number indexed vs the number that is 'not indexed' due to canonilzation and other issues.

Well, as this is a brand new feature that was just introduced yesterday, I looked at webmaster tools today and to my amazement I see that all my pages are 'not indexed' as of about 1 month ago. So essentially WMT is saying that none of my pages are indexed right now! Keep in mind this is the webmaster tools that I registered using the 'www' version of the domain.

It gets even more interesting. If I do a search in google, it shows me that the site IS indexed, but without the 'www'

Right now I am in a complete state of confusion. Never thought something as simple as this could cause soo much havoc.

I added a new site in webmaster tools using the non-www version. It currently does not have any info yet

I was originally considering 301 redirect from http://mysite.com to http://www.mysite.com but now seeing that the 'www' is not even indexed, I am thinking of swiching it and redirecting the www to the non-www. Then from there on I'll build links using the non-www version. Is this the right approach?

Any other suggestions to help fix this?
- Thanks
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- paulgl 12 years ago
  
  Google could care less. This is 2012.
  
  It makes no difference in the overall scheme of
  things.
  
  www or not. Same page. Google is smart enough to
  know that. They are smart enough to show whichever
  one seems best. It just does not matter.
  
  It only matters if the way your server is set up to
  need the www. Some do, some don't. If you
  need the www., you would redirect from non.
  Some sites are even setup so you can't use
  the www.
  
  But for 99.99999999999999999999% of sites, it
  just does not matter.
  
  In fact, if it did, man the possibilities would be endless
  from domain.com, www. domain.com, domain.com/
  domain.com/index.html, domain.com/index.php,
  www. domain.com/index.php, etc. etc. etc. All
  of those could variations of ways of getting to the index
  page of your site. BUT...it's all the same index page.
  
  People should never worry about this again. But, because
  old stuff is hard to kill, it will go on.
  
  Paul
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.
  
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dbwebdesignz 12 years ago

301 redirect is your friend dude, then its not a problem at all. Just open up your HTAccess and you will be fine

Google the bit of code required though

Best of luck
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RexMapes

12 years ago

"But for 99.99999999999999999999% of sites, it
just does not matter."

Paul,
I completely agree with you on this. This is a browser issue, not a google issue. I'm really confused how all of this turmoil about www. ever came about in the first place.

I bet the "redirect" and "need new links" debate goes on though.

Seems like a lot of people subscribe to the "Let's make it harder than it really is" theory.

Rex

Thanks
1 reply

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justmoretravel

12 years ago

Originally Posted by RexMapes

"But for 99.99999999999999999999% of sites, it
just does not matter."

Paul,
I completely agree with you on this. This is a browser issue, not a google issue. I'm really confused how all of this turmoil about www. ever came about in the first place.

I bet the "redirect" and "need new links" debate goes on though.

Seems like a lot of people subscribe to the "Let's make it harder than it really is" theory.

Rex

It's not really that hard to see how some people might be confused, when Google states this:

Once you tell us your preferred domain name, we use that information for all future crawls of your site and indexing refreshes. For instance, if you specify your preferred domain as IANA — Example domains and we find a link to your site that is formatted as IANA — Example domains, we follow that link as IANA — Example domains instead. In addition, we'll take your preference into account when displaying the URLs. If you don't specify a preferred domain, we may treat the www and non-www versions of the domain as separate references to separate pages.

Source: Preferred domain (www or non-www) - Webmaster Tools Help

Thanks

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supaH 12 years ago

Ya either set it as a 301 redirect or in Google Webmasters Tools set the preferred domain.
- Thanks
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hbteos234 12 years ago

Thanks all for your input

Thought I'd update you on what was learnt from this.

Having or not having a 'www' in your url does matter in case of the following:
1. you have some links pointing to www and some pointing to non-www
2. you have not set a preference in webmaster tools
3. you do not have a 301 redirect from one to the other

The simplest solution which I found (thanks for recommendations above) is to do a 301 redirect from one version to the other. Does not matter if you direct www to non-www or viceversa, as long as you have a 301 redirect it should be ok
- Thanks
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Help! I think I've messed up seo links with 'www'

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