Google WebMasters Tool - Preferred Domain

[JML1179]

I just added Google Analytics to my wordpress site with Google Analytics by YOAST. I then added Google WebMaster tools through via verify through google analytics account. I then tried to set a preferred domain. I chose the non www. version; however, google wanted me to verify ownership of both versions in order to set a preferred domain. I then added the www. version of my domain. I was able to set the non-www. version to my preferred domain. Now, there are two example.com's in my webmaster tools. I have 10 sites. I intend to replicate this process on all of my sites.

Do I have to leave the non-preferred version of my sites in the google webmaster? Can I delete it after I have set my preferred version? If I delete the non-preferred version will it delete my setting on the preferred version because it is now no longer verified (saved)?

[JML1179]

I hope I have achieved the forward properly.

I went into my godaddy account and forwarded   www. to http:pensacolarealtors.com. When it asked me the name of the subdomain, I typed  "www." I didn't type www.pensacolarealtors.com because it had a blank line then   .pensacolarealtors.com. I was assuming I just needed to add the www.

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Joseph,

It's best to leave both versions in Webmaster tools.

That said, if you have Wordpress (or hosting) set up correctly to 301 redirect all www to non-www, then this is a minor point as Google will generally display only the URL that it has indexed.

[SEO5Team]

thanks Joseph, much appreciated.

[JML1179]

Yea, I suppose. I am concerned with so many domains on my webmasters tool that I might one day click the wrong domain version.

I am very new to webmaster tools (today) so I don't know what I could mess up by going into the wrong one.

Thanks for your help on this thread and the other ones SEO5, you get the good answers!

[SEO5Team]

i would  not recommend deleting it. If you have already verified the preferences, then no harm leaving the other domain in the account.

[JML1179]

I have done that. That was not the question. Allow me to clarify.

I now have webmaster tools open. I am looking at the   example.com and the www.example.com in my webmaster tools. Can I delete the www.example.com from webtools? Will this cause my example.com to NOT be the preferred domain anymore? I

I had to verify both domains in order to get the webmaster tools to let me set a preference.

[SEO5Team]

Google's official response on the issue below:

Once you've set your preferred domain, you may want to use a 301 redirect to redirect traffic from your non-preferred domain, so that other search engines and visitors know which version you prefer.

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=44231