What should I set my domain setting to?
-
In Google Wemnaster tools, I have the option to set it to either have as default the "www" or without it.
What are the pros and cons of one way or the other . . . or is this a way more complicated question/can of worms I have opened?
-
Same opinion as everyone else here, it is not just about webmaster tools, you should use a 301 redirect from one versionm to the other too
As for whcih version to use, in my opionion it doesn't matter from an SEO standpoint which you use really, so it's down to a business decision based on what you feel is aesthetically more pleasing, or more useful to you. WITH ONE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION.
If you are in the situation that you have lots and lots of quality links to either version (www or non-www) then I would tend to lean towards that version. Obviously so long as you are putting a 301 redirect (are you on a linux server by the way?) then in time the weight of the links from one version (www or non-www) should be passed to the other version, via the permanently moved header status that Google will find. Even so, to keep things running smoothly, personally, I would go for a balance between what I think looks best, and which version has the most backlinks at present.
Whichever you choose, setup the 301 from the other version, to the version you go with.
-
Personally i feel that people (not us) don't understand you don't need the www. part of the website URL. So do to social engineering I would leave that part in.
The only pros and cons that i could think of is if you don't specify the specific version. You should also do 301 redirect in addition simply because not everyone uses google to search for website.
-
I think Alan has a point there based on adding the URL to advertising, I think is more of a branding issue, in my case I like the www., it won´t really affect your SEO, but whatever you choose, that 301 is very very very important, also make sure the canonical tag is set to the version you choose.
-
It's based on whether you want your site to be associated with the www version or the non www version. So if you routinely promote your site with it, focus on inbound links with it, and have that as your default user experience (such as with setting up a redirect from the non-www version) then that's what you should set in GWT.
It's essentially a way for Google to help properly assign the value of non www inbound links to the www version if that's what you designated.
Personally I no longer use www versions and recommend clients skip them as well because that's 4 less characters to have to get into ads, on business cards, type...
The most important factor though is to ensure you've got 301 Redirect functionality set up from the one you don't want to have used. GWT just adds a bit more value if you set it there.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Domain Masking SEO Impact
I hope I am explaining this correctly. If I need to provide any clarity please feel free to ask. We currently use a domain mask on an external platform that points back to our site. We are a non-profit and the external site allows users to create peer-to peer fundraisers that benefit our ministry. Currently we get many meta issues related to this site as well as broken links when fundraisers expire etc. We do not have a need to rank for the information from this site. Is there a way to index these pages so that they are not a part of the search engine site crawls as it relates to our site?
Technical SEO | | SamaritansPurse0 -
Goals for Sub Domain
I have created separate account for my sub domain and created goal for that, we have sales force data base to capture the leads.The problem which i'am facing is comparing to the goals and Sales force leads is very much difference.Goals leads are showing huge than sales force leads. 2) When lead is creating from organic source but in goals it's showing referral lead.
Technical SEO | | Anshul.S0 -
Sub Domain Redirect
Hey Everyone, Here is the situation : Currently, a website's sub domain is being redirected to the main website home page. We're having issues getting the sub domain pages indexed. Just want to confirm that it is because of the redirect on the sub domain URL. Should we kill the sub domain redirect and set it up as it's own page? Will that solve the indexing issue for the sub domain pages. More explanation below: subdomain.domain.com currently redirects to domain.com We're having issues indexing pages belonging to the sub domain ( subdomain.url.com/page1 or subdomain.url.com/page2) Appreciate your input in advance. Cheers,
Technical SEO | | SEO5Team0 -
1000+ links from domain to subdomain - impacting?
Hi there! I'm wondering if anyone could kindly help me with this question. I have a domain let's say: thisdomain.com - and I also have a subdomain called widgets.thisdomain.com thisdomain.com has approx 2000 pages on it. There are site wide links in the top nav, side nav and footer pointing to widgets.thisdomain.com (all with the same anchor text - not branded - it's a money term). My question is, do you think this would be causing some kind of algorithmic penalty (over optimisation / penguin)? Or, do you think Google realises these links are pointing to a subdomain and says, "hey, OK we understand these two domains could be related" or given subdomains are seen as essentially standalone websites, the algo is saying "hang on a minute, pal, this looks fishy, why are you linking to this subdomain 1000+ times with sitewide links on the same anchor text"? Should I nofollow these sitewide links? Do you think that will help? I would really appreciate any help on this one. Cheers!
Technical SEO | | WCR0 -
Redirecting old domain to new domain with wordpress
Hi all, I need to change domain name to a website published on wordpress. I'd think to make these steps: trasferring the website (files+db) to a new hosting space to redirect old site (www.oldsite.com) to the new one (www.newsite.com) using rewrite rules. With these steps I'd need to transfer and reinstall files and wordpress so I would like to discover if there's some less time expending procedure to consider. Thanks and ciao Bob
Technical SEO | | bobrock40 -
How do I fix a multiple domain mess?
I just picked up an account that is a franchisee and they have 6 exact match domains plus their main domain (all exact duplicates, not 301s). GA shows the main domain as getting the lion's share of hits, but for some important local keywords, the exact match domains rank higher. Some pages may have the exact match domain, primary domain and the franchise domain all ranking on the same SERP. Yuk! My strategy is to work on the main domain and as the work progresses, the main site will surpass the exact match domains and main franchise domain for the important searches. For the exact match domains I plan on just leaving them alone. Is this a sound strategy? I could pull the exact match domains down, but since they rank well for their keywords, it seems most sensible to leave them up. What do you think?
Technical SEO | | KristinnD0 -
Subdomain Setting in MozBar
I'm using the MozBar on FF6 and have a question about the selector next to "Root Domain" When I set it to "Subdomain", I notice that DmR and DmT are different from the root domain. Am I looking at DmR and DmT for all subdomains (www included)?
Technical SEO | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Sub Domain SEO
I am thinking to Add Sub Domains to get better rankings for Local Searches. So I will develop City Specific Sites with Specific Language. For Example qatar.wisnetsol.com. IT will be in Arabic. If my Good standing and Ranking on Google for wisnetsol.com will help my subdomain to rank better? if we setup wisnetsol.com/qatar, how it can target Qatar in Google Webmaster tools? Will links for qatar.wisnetsol.com and wisnetsol.com are seprate? What do you think about this strategy? Is it good or bad?
Technical SEO | | Khuram0