"WWW." versus Non - "www."
-
Our web developer recently changed our preferred domain from "www.thinkbiglearnsmart.com" to "thinkbiglearnsmart.com" so when I check the authority of the "www." it is higher than the "thinkbiglearnsmart.com." do you have any insight onto if we should just make our preferred URL "www." because that's how it was for years? Is there a way just to merge the two back together so it is not sort of having different information for the same site?
Thank you!
-
Thank you so much!
I am contacting my developer about this!
-
Looking at OSE for that domain, both sites have links pointing to them. So a preferred version should be chosen, and as Dana suggested, a 301 put in place. Since G+ 1s were also considered a ranking factor in Moz's latest update, I would take that into account as well, but interestingly enough it looks like +1s are appropriately applied regardless of the www version.
You don't have a large amount of links or authority built up yet, so ultimately it will not make a huge difference which one you choose, but it is important to stick with one and ensure the other is 301'd appropriately. The non-www has more links, but the www has more links from different domains - so if you did make a choice I would choose the www to get the authority from more linking domains.
The www has slightly higher page authority as well.
www version:
Page Authortity: 35
Linking domains: 12
Total Links 22
G+ 1s: 36
Non WWW Version
Page Authority: 27
Domain Authority: 25
Linking Domains 4
Total Links 164
Google +1s: 36
In response to your WMT question, preferred domain settings are now in the top right hand corner as an option under the gear icon under "site settings"
-
Hi there - it is to the right at the top next to "help" under settings - It's called site settings!
-
Thanks so much Dana!
-
I don't see the set preferred url section in webmasters tool anymore.. any hint on that as well?
-
Yes, in my opinion you should change it back to the "www." version and set that as your preferred version in Google Webmaster Tools. Also, make sure you have your developer 301-redirect the non-www version to your "www." version. This will unify your domain authority, which it appears has been fragmented by the two co-existing. You want to give preference to the one with the strongest authority. In this case it sounds like the "www." version is the way to go.
Something else to keep in mind is to have consistency in the way you are linking. If "www." is your preferred, then make sure that you are using that version when requesting backlinks, leaving comments on a blog or even creating print pieces (i.e. business cards). It will encourage other people linking to you to use the preferred version.
Hope that helps!
Dana
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
-
Calling all 301 htaccess Guru's - www to non www - then to https + Redirect homepage to inner page
I have tried searching, multiple opinions and multiple things that supposedly work. What I have now, seems to work from an end user perspective, but Roger tells me otherwise: Redirect Chain issue....redirect, which redirects which redirects etc..... FIRST, we need to redirect all www to non www. SECOND, we need to redirect all to https. THIRD, we need to redirect the homepage to an inner page. (Got to love BOGUS DMCA complaints! :)?) So far we have: RewriteEngine on
Moz Bar | | Jes-Extender-Australia
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mydomain.com.au$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.mydomain.com.au$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "https://mydomain.com.au/inner-page-here" [R=301,L] Plus down the page there is the usual wordpress settings: <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]</ifmodule> So, why does it seem to work for the end user, but Roger has his knickers in a knot saying, redirect, to redirect to redirect etc? Namaste and many thank you's in advance 🙂0 -
Confused by "Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once".
Hi, I am using the On-Page Grader to improve the SEO for certain keywords on certain pages. I have received the notification that the "Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once". Well from the looks of it I have already done this but I want to make sure that im checking the right thing. What does it mean when it says document text as I assumed it was text on the page but its not reading it as that. Any feedback would be appreciated
Moz Bar | | charlessimmons0 -
Annoying Popup saying "authentication required"! How do I resolve this?
I utilise the Moz bar quite rigourously as a content marketer but i'm having an annoying popup every second. Moz kept bugging me with a popup bar saying: "authentication required" asking me to input my username & password. Though filling it in correctly, it keeps bugging me every second. Sometimes even when I have disabled the toolbar it keeps poping up! How to resolve this?
Moz Bar | | iPrice_Marketing1 -
I'm getting, "you're not using the rel="canonical" META attribute" in my crawl diagnotic
I'm running a campaign crawler through Moz on this particular page: http://www.henley.ac.uk/executive-education/leadership-and-management-programmes/ but I'm getting a notifcaiton from Moz saying, "you're not using the rel="canonical" META attribute" I don't understand what this means!! Has anyone else had this problem, or can they help me understand what this means and how to fix it? Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving from the UK! Virginia
Moz Bar | | blackboxideas0 -
All in favor of an "Announcements" category section say MOZ!
So this is just a thought. I am not Rand, therefor I am not the Moz man himself, and therefor I am not telling anybody how to run this website or forum. But, I've been thinking... and usually that a dangerous thing. So many times when I answer a question I end it with: "Keep me posted" "Keep us updated" "Good Luck" In the same light there have been plenty of times when I have had my questions answered by people like EGOL, RobertFIsher, KeriMorget and they have said that they have wanted me to keep them posted. Now sure, some of you are sitting there being Melancholy Mozzers thinking that all those wonderful people are just being polite by adding some nice parting words... but what if I they are being Sincere Seoers? What if I WANT to fill them in and don't want to ask a question? What if... THEY REALLY LIKE ME?!?! I could also send a DM to those 3 people, I mean let's get honest I'm not THAT popular.... but I can dream can't I? Again, this isn't really an SEO question, more of a thought on where I'm supposed to give updates on my project. In all honesty I do want feedback on what I'm doing, and sometimes I don't even know what questions I'm supposed to ask!
Moz Bar | | HashtagHustler1 -
"Sorry! We weren't able to find that page when we crawled your site." Please help!
Can someone please explain whey I am getting this error for this link "http://lensoutloud.com/san-antonio-real-estate-photography/" when I attempt to perform an on page SEO grading? The link is indexed and ranking very well but for some reason Moz says it can't find the page when it crawled my site. This has also happened when I attempt to grade other pages on my site. Thanks in advance!
Moz Bar | | AndreGant0 -
Moz Rank Tracker doesn't work with "PHRASE" Keywords!?
Hello, If at http://ranktracker.moz.com trying to track phrase KW - the system wont accept it. But adding [EXACT] match with [] - works well. Have I missed something? Cheers.
Moz Bar | | SEOisSEO0 -
Since the revised website was launched, I can't find the "Crawl Test" function showing Titles and Descriptions of other websites. Anyone know where that link is located?
MOZ can "crawl" any website and show information like Title, Description, etc.....Can't find that link.
Moz Bar | | bpedrazas0