www doesn't show in SERPS ...

by 21 replies
26
Folks

When you do a search on Google, you often see some listings with and without the www prefix for example.


thebestdomain.com

www.coolstuffy.com

Anybody know why it shows the www prefix for some sites but not others?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #serps #show #www
  • I think you can just set it up either way you want. Most sites work either way, but if your site is not I think you can fix it.
    • [1] reply
  • You need to decide what you want (if google has already indexed a version, go with their selection)

    If you choose to go with www, make a 301 redirect from the non www ot the www.

    For google, and the other search engines, www and non www is two different websites, so if you have half of your links pointing to www and the other half to the non www you are vasting a lot of linkjuice and also having duplicate content.

    If you use a 301 redirect, the links to the non www will also count as links to the www.

    Google for how to do this.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • But how initially is Google choosing non www over listing it with a prefix?

      That's what I'm trying to get to the bottom of.
      • [1] reply
  • I see. I think it depends on how they find you.

    If you get discovered through an article that has the www, they will use the www. This is only guesses btw.

    I also believe that they go after what you have on your website. So if your header is clickable and links to the www version, they will pick that.

    Basically they have to choose one, so the version that is best seo'ed will get the attention.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Ok, thanks all, I think I'm heading in the correct direction.

    It's the first time I've seen it with my sites.

    Almost all the backlinks we did to this site are prefixed with www.

    We are ranked NO1 for our search term.

    It's ranked with no prefix at all.

    Go figure..
  • Kind of dangerous playing with it if you are ranking number one for you keyword. You will suddenly get a lot of links if you do a 301 redirect. If you are ranking no 1 and have no goal of ranking for more keywords, I would be carefull.
  • It is all controlled in your htaccess file.

    If your site provides a www and no wwww then the serps actually see two domains and all your efforts are diluted as they divide between the two domain.

    Create a .htaccess file and choose the one you want to be your domain with or without and redirect the other to the one you choose.

    .htaccess tricks and tips.. part two: url rewriting with mod rewrite.

    Quentin
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • For anybody finding this thread in future:

    Preferred domain (www or non-www) - Webmaster Tools Help
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Oh, sorry - yes!

    You can decide to use either of those... just stick to it once the decision has been made.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Yep, for sure.

      Here's the frustration.

      On Bing the site is without prefix
      On Yahoo with the prefix.

      Both have excellent rankings, between 1-3.

      What a mess, going to have to decide which side of the fence to sit on.

      This could hurt, whichever way I go.

      This is the only site I have on very old hosting, registered 2001.

      Never run into this problem before, I've checked a half dozen of our other sites and they all autoforward from the non www variant to the www.

      I'm guessing it's a default when with namecheap or Godaddy as I've never conciously done this and I must own nearly 100 domains in total.
  • Just a quick note to say thank you to all who assisted in this thread.

    This had completely slipped under my radar.

    Absolutely helped me resolve the issue.

    Thanks.
    SH
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