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Google Confusion - Does Anyone Know?

by LilBlackDress
11 replies
I recently put some of the keywords from one of my sites in several rank checker tools. The results - keywords that I am highly ranked for came back that I am not found in Google.

www.example dot com/widgets - keyword,widgets - not ranked by Google
So I put the keywords in again without the www.
example dot.com/widgets - keyword, widgets - ranked #5 by Google

Then I look in GoogleWebmaster tools and I have my website
www.example dot com listed. I put in example dot com without the www and it says that I would have to verify the site.

I also notice my rss feed does not have the www in it.

So should I verify the example dot com form of my website in addition to the regular www. version? This would mean two different bits of code in my header file.

And should I pick a preference for how the site should be known in Google?
Which one is better?

Am I not getting credit for backlinks I sent to the www. version?

Thanks so much!
#confusion #google
  • Profile picture of the author GeorgeKuipers
    Since no one is helping you here, I will give some info.
    Last years Google get smarter in working with sites that have both www dot example dot tld and example dot tld pages (in the mid 2000-ies he saw them as two different sites). So your backlinks to www version are working in Google, as well as the backlinks to the version without www .

    I would not do any harsh moves with respect to it now.
    Ideally, you should make 301 redirect from example dot tld to www dot example dot tld if you want perfect consistency. You can also specify you preferred alias in Google Webmaster Tools. However, watch out for this position #5, it can drop for the www version then.
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    • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
      Thanks for your thoughts...

      So are you saying you would leave it alone? Which do I build links to?
      I have been building links to my www.
      I am in a competitive niche so I done want to have to build links twice for each...

      If google knows they are together..then why in
      rank checker when I use the www. version does it not show that I am ranked for keywords that do show up without the www?
      I see different backlinks for the www and the one without www

      And

      should I put the meta tag in my header to show I own the one without www also - which would mean two meta tags in header?

      I dont have this issue with my other sites as they were set up as www's.
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      • Profile picture of the author GeorgeKuipers
        LilBlackDress, the three last repliers suggest a hard move - enforce one version, and abandon another one. Again, I repeat, this is good in the ideal situation with a relatively new site.

        However, again, I would not do this without proper analysis, since you are currently ranked #5 for the version without 'www'. So enforcing all pages to become with 'www', might directly result in temporal or permanent loss of this #5.

        I cannot give you the best and only advice on your clarification questions, since I do not possess the data needed (only you do have it). Therefore, leave it as it is (it will not harm your site), make a proper risk analysis using the GWT and SERP data related to your site, and then make the decision. (Maybe you can get some seo guy sitting close together with you and analyzing that data).
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        • Profile picture of the author tecHead
          Originally Posted by GeorgeKuipers View Post

          LilBlackDress, the three last repliers suggest a hard move - enforce one version, and abandon another one. Again, I repeat, this is good in the ideal situation with a relatively new site.

          However, again, I would not do this without proper analysis, since you are currently ranked #5 for the version without 'www'. So enforcing all pages to become with 'www', might directly result in temporal or permanent loss of this #5.

          I cannot give you the best and only advice on your clarification questions, since I do not possess the data needed (only you do have it). Therefore, leave it as it is (it will not harm your site), make a proper risk analysis using the GWT and SERP data related to your site, and then make the decision. (Maybe you can get some seo guy sitting close together with you and analyzing that data).
          He's right, Lee.
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          • Profile picture of the author ARVolund
            You really do need to pick one or the other. Go with the one that has the most links and is ranking the best. I assume that is the default for your site now but if not make it so.

            Then just set 301's from the one you are not using to the one you are. A 301 will direct any and all links (and link juice) directly to the target url.

            Then target all your future link building efforts to the correct urls.




            Richard
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            • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
              This is an established site about 2 years old. And is ranked very highly for many keywords.

              Crazy thing is, when I look up the backlinks I see a ton for the www.example dot com.

              When I look up the rank of the keywords I see the example dot com (no www) ranking highly.

              I will have to check but I think the default for the site is example dot com (no www), so does this mean my link building efforts to the www have been wasted?
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    You probably want to check that your host is not serving both the www version and the no www version.

    If it is you are diluting your efforts and simply need to add a htacess file and choose one or the other to get all the traffic.

    Possible this has already been done and all the www traffic is being snt to the non www site which is good.

    Q
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    Pick one or the other and set your canonicals accordingly. If your site is Wordpress, there is a settings in the general section. If html, use your htaccess file.

    Also, add which one you choose inside of your Google Webmaster tools, so they know which one to use.

    Here are some Google resources:
    Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Specify your canonical
    Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Handling legitimate cross-domain content duplication
    SEO advice: url canonicalization
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgeKuipers
    LilBlackDress, not neccesserily. If you make a proper 301 redirect in your .htaccess file from 'www' to non-'www' pages, then the link juice should flow over.
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    • Profile picture of the author rts2271
      Matt Bacak and I just did a video on this.

      The short of it is 301 forward your rootdomain.com to your www.rootdomain.com Bind your SERPS. Heres a script I wrote up for PHP heads out there that does this automatically.

      I am licensing it for anyone here in the Warriorforum as well as anyone you give it to provided you dont be a jackass and claim you wrote it.

      <?php
      $host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
      $uri = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
      function domainCheck($host, $uri, $domain){
      $dir_name = rtrim(dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']), '/\\');
      if($host==$domain){
      $formattedUrl=$domain.$uri;
      Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
      Header( "Location: http://www.$formattedUrl" );
      exit;
      }
      }
      domainCheck($host, $uri, $domain);
      // Copyright 2010 Ralph T Smith
      // Licensed limited
      //
      // Replace DOMAINNAME.COM with your domain name,
      // no www
      //
      $domain='DOMAINNAME.COM';
      //
      // This includes file function.php must be in the
      // root folder.
      // public_html in cPanel.
      // htdocs for Plesk.
      // /var/www/html for apache
      //
      domainCheck($host, $uri, $domain);
      //
      // This script must be at the very top of the
      // web page. All user content and scripting below
      // the bottom line
      ?>
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      Ralph Smith
      Mercenary development and deployment.

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