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  4. Www vs non-www which is better?

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After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Www vs non-www which is better?

Technical SEO
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  • bronxpad
    bronxpad last edited by May 16, 2012, 8:50 PM

    Is it better to have all your pages point to the www version or non www version.

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • ReviveMedia
      ReviveMedia @bronxpad last edited by Nov 24, 2015, 12:26 PM Nov 24, 2015, 12:26 PM

      I am needing help with this same thing. Did you ever find a solution to redirecting with yahoo web hosting? TIA

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • topic:timeago_earlier,11 months
      • SeoMartin1
        SeoMartin1 last edited by Jan 8, 2015, 1:21 AM Jan 8, 2015, 1:21 AM

        Joel, i prefer www version cause i think from a technical perspective, there are several benefits to including the WWW.

        • Ability to restrict cookies when using multiple subdomains. Cookies of a main domain (i.e. example.com) are sent to all subdomains: If you are going to have subdomains for other purposes (blog for instance), you may want to differentiate the sites and have a www prefix for the regular site.
        • WWW actually MEANS something. As mentioned above, WWW is a hostname, and the hostname names the specific service being used a computer network; WWW names the web service for a domain.
        • Using the WWW hostname allows for easy segregation in the file structure of your website. Everything in the “www” folder (and at the www.example.com domain) is directly related to serving the site to the public. This allows for simple root-level site organization, eg you could also have a dev folder and have a subdomain dev.example.com for your development site, etc.
        • More flexibility with DNS. Your domain’s “Zone” file controls where traffic to your domain is directed and using the non-WWW version of your domain can complicate things.

        you may still want to use the WWW simply because it’s conventional to do so. On a business card, the WWW clearly conveys, This is our address on the World Wide Web. People are used to looking for, and seeing, the WWW and that’s sufficient reason for many to stick to the convention 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • topic:timeago_earlier,3 years
        • Seattle
          Seattle @bronxpad last edited by May 17, 2012, 3:22 PM May 17, 2012, 3:22 PM

          Personally, I'd dump yahoo hosting and have my stuff hosted elsewhere. For less than $40/mo you can get hosting and have access to edit the .htaccess file to your heart's content.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • bronxpad
            bronxpad @Seattle last edited by May 17, 2012, 2:51 PM May 17, 2012, 2:51 PM

            I spoke with Yahoo, apparently they only offer the 301 redirect for the higher cost hosting plans that run about $40. Any ideas?

            Seattle 1 Reply Last reply May 17, 2012, 3:22 PM Reply Quote 1
            • Seattle
              Seattle last edited by May 17, 2012, 2:36 PM May 17, 2012, 2:36 PM

              http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/store/manage/sitesettings/sitesettings-29.html

              bronxpad 1 Reply Last reply May 17, 2012, 2:51 PM Reply Quote 0
              • bronxpad
                bronxpad last edited by May 17, 2012, 9:25 AM May 17, 2012, 9:25 AM

                Ok, does anyone know how to do a proper 301 redirect in yahoo web hosting?

                ReviveMedia 1 Reply Last reply Nov 24, 2015, 12:26 PM Reply Quote 0
                • Metropolis
                  Metropolis last edited by May 17, 2012, 6:37 AM May 17, 2012, 6:37 AM

                  As long as your consistent, but it just comes down to which have the higest ranksing if on an existing site.

                  I tend to prefer non-www for new sites as its less typing and un-necessary.

                  There is a moment for non-www http://no-www.org/

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • MalcolmGibb
                    MalcolmGibb last edited by May 17, 2012, 5:19 AM May 17, 2012, 5:19 AM

                    There is no better method they do not affect rankings, it is purely personal preference. However you must implement proper redirect rules to resolve http://mysite.com to http://www.mysite.com or vice versa which ever one you choose.

                    I tend to always go for www. as it just looks better to me.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • wrttnwrd
                      wrttnwrd last edited by May 17, 2012, 1:01 AM May 17, 2012, 1:01 AM

                      I prefer www, because folks will generally tend to use that version when they link to you. It's reflex.

                      But you can check this. Run Open Site Explorer for both versions of your domain.

                      If more people link to you using 'www' than non-www, use www and 301 redirect the non-www to www.

                      If more people use non-www, do the reverse.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • kwoolf
                        kwoolf last edited by May 17, 2012, 12:31 AM May 17, 2012, 12:31 AM

                        If you do choose to keep the www, make sure you have redirects in place so when a user doesn't enter the www, he or she will get to your home page. Just FYI, www.domain.com is a subdomain of domain.com, so if your site can be access through both, search engines view these as two different pages and possibly split rankings.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • Seattle
                          Seattle last edited by May 16, 2012, 9:27 PM May 16, 2012, 9:27 PM

                          Neither one is better, but whichever one you choose, make sure you remain consistent for your entire site.

                          As for me, I use the www because that's what google uses.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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