Expired Domain - http:// or www

[imagatto2]

I have an old domain - When i use the link explorer i get way more juice out of the www version of my  domain. I will be using wordpress to set up a new domain with the same name . My question is - How do I make it proper for seo? Do i just change the http:// to www in wordpress and be done with it? Does it even matter (thinking it does)

[RobertFisher]

Margaret,

This is not about http:// vs www it is www vs non www. The easiest way to make it work for SEO is to go into Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) and select your preferred domain. Go to GWT, and you will see Dashboard. Below that the second item will be Configuration, click that and you will see Settings as a selection. Click that and the middle item to the right will be Preferences. You can choose between:

Dont set a Preferred Domain.

Display URL's as www.EXAMPLE.com

Display URL's as EXAMPLE.com

Choose which you prefer (if currently you have more authority with the WWW version that is what I would choose.

To further help you, you should use 301 redirect in the .htaccess file in order to capture all the link juice from one version to the other. If you have any questions around the 301, just ask them.

With this you should see the link juice move from the non to the www and increase it in value over time. (Few months)

Hope this helps you out,

[Klarke]

Yeah it does matter a bit.

Figure out which version has the most (or best) incoming links to it and use that one.   Yes you can just set it in Wordpress.  I believe Wordpess will automatically 301 redirect the unused version to the one you've chosen.  If not, you can do it manually.