Preferred domain
-
In GWT it gives an option to do the following but which is best? and why?
If you specify your preferred domain as http://www.example.com and we find a link to http://example.com, we'll consider both links the same.
| <label for="no_assoc">Don't set a preferred domain</label> |
| <label for="use_www">Display URLs as ** www.example.com**</label> |
| <label for="use_nowww">Display URLs as example**.com **</label> | -
if you wouldn't like to use subdomains, I would go for non-www.
-
Thanks for replying.
It looks like it's better to set a preference one way or another but which way?
I won't be using subdomains. I don't need extra charactor space. I have always used www in the past (just in general not in relation to this) but newer browsers don't seem to need it so just example.com gets used increasingly.
Anyone care to vote? we have 1 each at the moment.
Ian
-
it also depends on what domain you have already done link building for. Choose the one that has more backlinks pointing to it.
-
I choose the www or without www depending on my users, in my case if the site is for seniors tend to use the www to be more classic, but if the site id for young people do not use www because It saves space (@Edward R. Jenkins).
But overall there is not much difference, in many cases will be a matter of taste.
PS: Some people say that it looks more professional www.
-
Hey Ian,
choosing the preferred domain depends mainly on one issue: are you going to use subdomains or not?
If not, then probably you can go with the non-www version (but then do not forget to use canonicals or 301 redirects the same way).
If you would like to use the subdomains also, then I would advice you to go with the www version.
Gr.,
Istvan
P.S. maybe somebody else thoughts are different, but this is how I make my decision, when to go for one or the other version.
-
Which is better? Personally, I prefer "www" URLs -- but this is just a personal preference. But either way, I do recommend setting a preferred URL within Google Webmaster Tools, as long as said URL matches the URL set as the default view for your site.
Some prefer non-www URLs because it saves character space in the URL.
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
-
Using one domain for email and another domain for your website, but redirects...
Hello - We are rebranding and our new name is fairly lengthy. We own all main domain versions of our brand name - .com, .new and .org - There is a very high search volume for the new brand name as it is a merger of 2 popular existing brands so want to take advantage of that and use our full name within our website domain name. However, since the name is a little long as mentioned - 25 characters - we also own the 3 character acronym of the new brand so we are debating on using the acronym for our new email addresses. ie name@abc.com so it is user friendly. We would obviously redirect the acronym email domain to point to the longer website domain. Are there any negative SEO effects if we do that? Use the longer domain for the website and shorter acronym for our email? Thank you
Technical SEO | | KRBishopBh1 -
301 Old Domain Name with relevant domain name
We have a number of historical domain names that we are thinking of 301 redirecting to industry relevant domains.
Technical SEO | | barry.oneil
Currently the domains we wish to redirect are not active and have been down since march 2018.
As far as we know there is no bad reputation on these domains, but we think there are still links out there in the wild on possibly relevant blog posts. Would there be any negative affect on the target domain? Thanks0 -
Why Are Some Pages On A New Domain Not Being Indexed?
Background: A company I am working with recently consolidated content from several existing domains into one new domain. Each of the old domains focused on a vertical and each had a number of product pages and a number of blog pages; these are now in directories on the new domain. For example, what was www.verticaldomainone.com/products/productname is now www.newdomain.com/verticalone/products/product name and the blog posts have moved from www.verticaldomaintwo.com/blog/blogpost to www.newdomain.com/verticaltwo/blog/blogpost. Many of those pages used to rank in the SERPs but they now do not. Investigation so far: Looking at Search Console's crawl stats most of the product pages and blog posts do not appear to be being indexed. This is confirmed by using the site: search modifier, which only returns a couple of products and a couple of blog posts in each vertical. Those pages are not the same as the pages with backlinks pointing directly at them. I've investigated the obvious points without success so far: There are a couple of issues with 301s that I am working with them to rectify but I have checked all pages on the old site and most redirects are in place and working There is currently no HTML or XML sitemap for the new site (this will be put in place soon) but I don't think this is an issue since a few products are being indexed and appearing in SERPs Search Console is returning no crawl errors, manual penalties, or anything else adverse Every product page is linked to from the /course page for the relevant vertical through a followed link. None of the pages have a noindex tag on them and the robots.txt allows all crawlers to access all pages One thing to note is that the site is build using react.js, so all content is within app.js. However this does not appear to affect pages higher up the navigation trees like the /vertical/products pages or the home page. So the question is: "Why might product and blog pages not be indexed on the new domain when they were previously and what can I do about it?"
Technical SEO | | BenjaminMorel0 -
What is cross domain?
what is cross domain? can any one explain in simple language ?
Technical SEO | | constructionhelpline0 -
Shopping Carts & Sub Domains
I was hoping someone could guide me in making the correct decision regarding integrating my existing domain with a hosted shopping cart. I have an existing website to promote my bricks and mortar retail operation and am expanding into web retailing. I will be using one of the major hosted shopping carts. What is the best way to join the two components from an SEO perspective? Have the cart as a sub domain of my main site, or move my existing domain name to be hosted by the cart provider and have both components operate under the same general domain? I have read arguments that putting your cart within a sub domain is not a good idea because any clout of the pre-existing domain will not be shared with the sub domain; that they will be treated as two separate sites. I have also read that using a sub domain is a good idea being that the content focus of the main domain (marketing and blogs) is different form the focus of the sub domain (product sales), and that the two components would benefit form earning their own rankings undiluted by the other. And, I have also read that search engines are getting good at being able to deduce that an eCommerce sub domain is legitimate extension of a content intensive main domain, and that they treat the two components as a combined whole. What is the truth? Which is the better way to go? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Technical SEO | | MEI1520 -
Redirect non www. domain to WWW. domain for established website?
Hey guys, The website in question has been online for more than 5 years but there are still 2 versions of the website. Both versions are indexed by Google and of course, this will result in duplicate content. Is it necessary to redirect the non-www domain to the www. domain. What are the cons and advantages? Will the www. links replace the non-www links when it comes to keyword rankings? Thanks.
Technical SEO | | BruLee0 -
Sub-domain dilema - variations
Hi All, We're creating a sub-domain for a new program launch on a client site and we need to choose the "right" sub-domain name that properly reflects the offering and hopefully keyword driven. The client is already using the preferred sub-domain name but until we get clarification that we can take it over, I'm doing my due diligence and expecting a worst case scenario in that we cannot use it. The current preferred sub-domain is only a landing page (not a full site) and it does NOT rank for anything and it's not being built out further. My question: Would pluralizing our preferred keyword have any effect in the way SEs see the two sub-domains as they're very closely related? hardcandy.sitename.com or hardcandies.sitename.com The new sub-domain would be a fully-functional-SEO-friendly site (well that's the plan anyway). Thanks for all your help.
Technical SEO | | Bragg0 -
Sub-Domain Choice Dilemma
We have successfully rolled out 5 sub-domains using very industry specific KWs as the sub, e.g. familylawyers. We're rolling our an employment focused sub.and ideally would use employmentlawyers.XXX.com. However I'm tempted to use a long established (5+ years) sub-domain with a topic related KW that now hosts a non-active blog with PR3 - employment-law.XXXX.com. It has 49 indexed pages, some with PR2. So there's potential for getting a kickstart on traffic and trust with some redirects. Should I go for instant gratification or build for the long haul with the slightly more beneficial URL KWing? I should add that this sub-domain will have thousands of pages that are geo and sub-category focused - a typical URL would be. sub-domain.XXX.com/TX/Austin/wrongful-termination-lawyers.html THX for any opinions.
Technical SEO | | legalseo0