Canonical URL

[bronxpad]

I previously set the canonical Url in google web masters to the non www version, when I check my on page opt, it tells me that I have a critical issue with this. Should I change it in google web masters back to the www version? if so is there the possibility of negative results?

Or is there a better way to deal with this?

Note, I have inbound links pointing to both types.

[StreamlineMetrics]

You should set the canonical URL on your actual website. First, I'd recommend picking either www or non-www and sticking with it with a 301 redirect. If you have a Linux server, put this code in your .htaccess file -

RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Then on your pages, add the code to the HEAD of the document.

[bronxpad]

My site is hosted by Yahoo and I don't have htaccess, what do I do in this case?