Wordpress & use of 'www' vs not for webmaster tools - explanation needed

[dnaynay]

I am having a hard time understanding the issue of canonization of site pages, specifically in regards to the 'www' or 'non-www' versions of a site. And specifically in regards to wordpress.

I can see that it doesn't matter whether you type in 'www' or not in the url for a wordpress site, what is going on in the back end that allows this?

When I link up to google webmaster tools, should i use www or not?

thanks for any help

d

[jlane9]

Hello David,

When you install wordpress it installs the files which can be found with or without the www.

On the settings page you can add the www as the version you want to use.

What is going on in the back that allows this ? => ( .htacess file re-write rules)

Your host should have rewrite rule available via  .htacess file This will rewite all the pages on the site to which ever version you choose.

then in your webmaster account choose the www. version as well.

Redirecting your site to one version or the other is going to reduce two versions of your site down to one version so you do not have duplicate content issues or penalties.

I always use the full url (absolute link) with the www.for several reasons below.

This should always be used in your links within your site and the code as well.

Absolute link example is = http://www.your-site-url.com

• easier and faster for search engines to follow

• safer when worried about site hijacking

• works better in emails ( make sure a visitor gets to the right page)

• better if your content gets stolen and the thief does not take time to check and fix all the code (i actually caught someone who stole one of my sites content this way )

If you use one version all the time you are also going to make sure you get all your link benefits to the right domain and not split between the two.

Some seo's and many web designers don't use the full url to save time and code bloat of the site. Myself as  well as many other think the absolute link has added benefits.

I hope that helps.

[igor.pinchevskiy]

Hi Joseph, do you run into any SSL errors by using absolute links especially with images? I hate when you get an error message on secure pages saying that some content is not secure would you like to see it... do you think leaving the http part out is a better idea for sites that have SSL pages, use something like www.mydomain.com instead?

Thanks!

[HandsomeWeb]

The issue is www.EXAMPLE.com and EXAMPLE.com are considered two different websites, and Google may split the links in if people are linking to both versions.  A 301 redirect tells Google to assume all links are pointed at one version.

Your Question: I can see that it doesn't matter whether you type in 'www' or not in the url for a wordpress site, what is going on in the back end that allows this?

My Answer: This is not WordPress, it is your web host.  Most LAMP webhosts will automatically server your website with our without "WWW".  WordPress will create the links on the pages it creates to the one specified in your settings, but the site will come up weather or not you use "WWW."

To Address the Concern: Because you are using WordPress, you are probably on Apache, so add this to your .htaccess file in the root directory.

After:

END WordPress

Add:

Rewrite all old filenames RewriteEngine on

Options +FollowSymlinks
rewritecond %{http_host} ^EXAMPLE.com [nc] rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.EXAMPLE.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Test with and without "WWW." Test with a different browser.

[dnaynay]

Thanks Christopher.

Sorry I'm not quite sure what the code you have supplied is for? My site currently works fine with or without the 'www' - but does the code you have supplied acheive something else?

thanks

d