Having www. and non www. links indexed

[BruLee]

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.

[AdamThompson]

Your plan of attack is correct! 301 the URLs and inform GWT. Of course, update any links on your site, too.

[BruLee]

Wouldn't this hurt me on the Search Engines? To update all of the website URLs?

[AdamThompson]

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

[BruLee]

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?

[AdamThompson]

You should change the links on your website to link to the www version.