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Having www. and non www. links indexed
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Hey guys,
As the title states, the two versions of the website are indexed in Google. How should I proceed? Please also note that the links on the website are without the www.
How should I proceed knowing that the client prefers to have the www. version indexed.
Here are the steps that I have in mind right now:
I set the preferred domain on GWMT as the one with www.
I 301 redirect any non www. URL to the www. version.
What are your thoughts? Should I 301 redirect the URL's? or is setting the preference on GWMT enough?
Thanks.
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You should change the links on your website to link to the www version.
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But should I change the URLs in the website? If the product URLs are without the www., is the 301 redirect enough or should I change them to www. versions?
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It's unlikely that updating your site to 301 redirect non-www URLs to www URLs would negatively impact your site. Google actually recommends that you do this: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93633
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Wouldn't this hurt me on the Search Engines? To update all of the website URLs?
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Your plan of attack is correct! 301 the URLs and inform GWT. Of course, update any links on your site, too.
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