Www. compared to http://
-
Hey guys!
I'm pretty new to the community, and I had a quick question regarding URLs for my website. What would be the difference between using "http://" and "http://www." in my URL. I have done a little searching, but so far I haven't got a definite answer. Any input would be amazing, thanks again.
-
Greg's response is correct:
- Be consistent throughout the site - either use www or don't, but definitely don't switch back and forth.
- Implementing canonical tags is important, especially if you don't implement redirects as directed below (though you need to do both, preferably).
I have two additional concerns:
- Implement redirects. There should be sitewide redirects so that if you decided to use http://domain.com and a user types in http://www.domain.com, they are redirected. This should work for subpages as well, so http://www.domain.com/subfolder/page.html is redirected to http://domain.com/subfolder/page.html
- Be consistent with linking as well: If you decide to go without www, then make sure all of your link building activities do not include the www. in the links you use. While people will be redirected just fine, there is a small loss in value during that redirect and we want to get as much value from the links as possible. So, use the exact url you want linked, not a secondary version.
-
Hi Jason,
Consistency is going to be key when formatting your sites URLs. If you choose to use 'www' or 'non-www' there is not a difference. Where people run into trouble is not using 'rel=canonical' in the tag to show the search engines that 'www.yoursite.com' goes to 'yoursite.com' or vice versa. If you do not have these tags in place the search engines will view the page are two separate pages, and you will run into a duplicate content issue.
So to recap, be consistent and use the appropriate 'rel=canonical' tag and everything should turn out just fine.
-Greg
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Impact on backlinking with https://www.domain or https://domain
Hi, this questions have bugging me for a long time now; we check our website how is indexed on Google and we see that we have most of the backlinks for URL https://www.speedhub.eu , but 15% are linked to https://speedhub.eu , in the past we had our website for http requests redirected via 301 htaccess to https://speedhub.eu without giving it importance, now we have it with www included. Bottom line questions: Is it important if your links are with www or without www, do you lose "link juice" by splitting your backlinks via links with www or without www ? Does Google make a difference for domain positioning via this criteria ? Best regards,
Link Building | | SPEEDHUB_eu0 -
How many links per week/month should a link building campaign acquire?
I am running a linkbuilding campaign for my company. I am mostly focusing on guest blogging opportunities and responding to emails from HARO. How many links would I have to acquire each week or month to be considered doing a good job over a 6 month or a year time period? Thank you,
Link Building | | fersu0 -
Sponsoring a show/play
Hey, How does it work with sponsorships and paid back links? I have a lawyer website, and I know lots of people who do plays and play shows. I could easily sponsor a band for like $100 and get a link on the page. Is this allowed? I could even write stuff on their page to make it more relevant. let me know, thanks.
Link Building | | RafeTLouis0 -
Has anything changed www vs non www
Hi, I started to read different comments on www vs non www and I am a little confused. As far as i know from SEO point, either url is fine but can you please share your latest view ? I was just wondering if anything has changed since penguin on this? Thanks!
Link Building | | Rubix0 -
Website/blog list to get quality backlinks?
Hi Everyone says quality backlinks increase ranking of your website. Can you please suggest a list of good websites and blogs from where I can get quality backlinks and how to do that. I have one person at my disposal full time to do manual commenting or any manual tasks for getting backlinks but how should i approach this problem (of getting backlinks). Where do I start. For information, my website provides online services (its an ecommerce site) and also has a blog in subdirectory. refer to www.geekwik.com www.geekwik.com/blog Would like to become top ranker on search for these services (eg 'logo design services', 'website programming', 'content writing', 'hire virtual assistant' etc) Also anyone interested to become our SEO consultant or SEO service provider (of course paid) is most welcome 🙂 Thanks in Advance!
Link Building | | geekwik0 -
Best Back Links (paid/unpaid) Real Estate
Where can I get the best backlinks for Real Estate? I don't care if it is paid/unpaid. As long as it's not the kind of paid link Google would go after. Paid directories are A OK. Please help 🙂 Keywords: property management, vacation rentals, real estate, real estate agent, realtors
Link Building | | JML11790 -
Is a no-follow link/sponsored link a good editorial link?
Ok maybe this is a dumb question. I really need some better, more quality backlinks pointing to my site. There is a site that has domain authority of 72, page rank 5 that is offering me a sponsored blog post. Do sponsored posts count as a good editorial link? Also what if they are no-follow (and how would I find out ahead of time), does that still give me link juice?
Link Building | | tutugirl0 -
Blog. vs /Blog
I need to be able to explain to a client the difference from an SEO perspective between Blog. vs /Blog. www.website.com/Blog vs Blog.website.com The client wants to know which one will help there website with SEO. I belive both will but /Blog will more. I'm looking for a tangible answer only centered around this subject. Thanks,
Link Building | | cfield_splashmedia.com0