Differences Between www and no www on the URL

Discussion in 'SEO, Traffic and Revenue' started by SimplySidy, Jun 24, 2013.

  1. SimplySidy

    SimplySidy Website Consultant, Developer and Strategist

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2012
    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    9
    Location:
    Bhubaneswar, India
    Hi

    I was reading this thread - Cerberus SEO 101 Guide - Search Engine Opitmization
    http://admin-talk.com/threads/cerberus-seo-101-guide-search-engine-opitmization.4012/

    wherein the OP mentioned that the URLs can be re-written for allowing use of www or no www.

    I could not make out how far that would be good. I mean, what difference does it make if I have a site that opens via - www.xyz.com or xyz.com. Yes, there might be some SEO factors involved. Is there anything I am missing out on this? Would be glad if anyone can explain the use and good.
     
  2. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2013
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    17
    I also want to know.....
     
  3. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    Messages:
    1,031
    Likes Received:
    500
    The point of choosing is to eliminate duplicate content. Also, it stops cookie problems that can and will eventually occur in people's browsers. But, the main reason is no duplicate content. It lends more value to your content
     
    Brandon likes this.
  4. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2013
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    17
    Without the www ???
     
  5. Code Monkey

    Code Monkey Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2013
    Messages:
    230
    Likes Received:
    170
    the www is banned on my sites. There is no point in having a sub-directory for my sites. Either way you choose it is good practice to use .htaccess to prevent one or the other. Otherwise it can be a duplicate content issue. You can tell google which one you want them to use as well.
     
  6. SimplySidy

    SimplySidy Website Consultant, Developer and Strategist

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2012
    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    9
    Location:
    Bhubaneswar, India
    That is what was mentioned on the thread too but from what I know, the content or the duplicate content is resident on the pages - isn't it?.
     
  7. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2009
    Messages:
    6,602
    Likes Received:
    1,706
    Location:
    Topeka, Kansas
    First Name:
    Brandon
    Exactly...
    Google and other search engines will take the www and non-www and two separate sites.
    With that said, you can define this in your google webmaster tools, but I like to make things easy and just define it myself on my URL's.
     
  8. CM30

    CM30 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2012
    Messages:
    901
    Likes Received:
    500
    As far as I can tell, there's no difference between WWW and no WWW, as long as you make sure to only use one address and redirect the other address to the primary one (to get rid of duplicate content).

    Doesn't really matter which one you choose, just make it so the one you're not using redirects to the primary one.
     
    Brandon likes this.
  9. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    Messages:
    1,031
    Likes Received:
    500
    I am partial to no WWW because it makes URL look shorter LOL ..
     
    Brandon likes this.
  10. SimplySidy

    SimplySidy Website Consultant, Developer and Strategist

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2012
    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    9
    Location:
    Bhubaneswar, India
    OMG!. I had no idea about this. I am thankful to the OP of that discussion and also all of you dear people who have responded above and clarified my doubts. I am going to make the www.mywebsitename.com fixed now just to avoid the further complications. Maybe I should edit it in the .htaccess for ease and also update the same on Google Webmasters. (maybe I might need to know how to set this on Google Webmasters).
     
  11. bosconian

    bosconian Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 15, 2013
    Messages:
    112
    Likes Received:
    14
    Location:
    Mexico
    I wasn't aware that Google treated the www and no-www versions as two separated sites. I prefer the sites without www, it looks better in my opinion, that's why I always redirect www to the main domain.
     

Share This Page