SEO Tycoon

**imported_Tom** · 09-07-2006, 04:06 AM

When I go to the site explorer tool in Yahoo! and the webmaster tools in Google I see both the www and the non-www version listed. And I've only validated/authenticated the www version.
How do I go about with the non-www version? Do I just delete it? Create that non-www to www redirect? (Any site on that?) What should I do? Just leave it? It's considered a different site right?

**kthdsn** · 09-07-2006, 05:09 AM

You should create a redirect, I prefer to send my visitors to non-www but its up to you which way you do it, I don't think it makes a difference. Without a redirect the search engines see two versions of your site which is not what you want.

**imported_Tom** · 09-07-2006, 05:22 AM

A redirect as in this? http://www.organicseo.org/URL_Rewrit...www.domain.com

**kthdsn** · 09-07-2006, 05:30 AM

I'm not sure how you do it, I had a friend set mine up for me. I guess it depends on your server/hosting.

**imported_Tom** · 09-07-2006, 10:49 PM

Thanks kthdsn

Anyone else able to help clarify?

**stefanjuhl** · 09-08-2006, 12:15 PM

If you have access to mod_rewrite, then place a .htaccess file in you root directory. .htaccess should contain the following:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.domain\.com [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

This would redirect any request on non-www to www with the same URI.

E.g. http://domain.com/page123.htm will be redirected to http://www.domain.com/page123.htm

**imported_Tom** · 09-10-2006, 07:46 AM

I dunno what mod_rewrite is... but i see a .htaccess file in my root and can edit it, so I'll add those lines.
All I gotta change is the "domain" part correct?

thanks so much guys!

**stefanjuhl** · 09-11-2006, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom

I dunno what mod_rewrite is... but i see a .htaccess file in my root and can edit it, so I'll add those lines.
All I gotta change is the "domain" part correct?

thanks so much guys!

Yeah, just change the "domain" to your actual domain.

After uploading, clear your browser cache and try the URL both with and without "www". If you get redirected to www then it probably works. Then you could test it further by going to a subpage, remove the www and then see if you get redirected to the corresponding page with www.

It's very IMPORTANT that you clear the cache before testing...

If you get some kind of "internal server error 500" or something else/weird happens then you probably haven't got access to mod_rewrite.

Also, if your .htaccess already contains something then do make a backup, so you'll be able to replace it if something doesn't work.

**imported_Tom** · 09-11-2006, 03:28 AM

Thank you guys! got everything working now! w00t! You guys rock.

**drgrudge** · 09-11-2006, 04:29 AM

I don't use the "www" for my blog and confused if I really need the "www".
Check this article:
Benefits of Removing ‘www’ From Your URL
http://wisdump.com/webmastering/bene...from-your-url/

**kthdsn** · 09-11-2006, 04:50 AM

I prefer using the non-www version of my domains, but I don't think it matters whether you choose to have the www or not as long as all your visitors can get to your site. What really annoys me are those sites where www.domain.com takes you to their site but domain.com returns this page cannot be found.