Help With Preferred Domain Settings, 301 and Duplicate Content

[JSOC]

I've seen some good threads developed on this topic in the Q&A archives, but feel this topic deserves a fresh perspective as many of the discussion were almost 4 years old.

My webmaster tools preferred domain setting is currently non www. I didn't set the preferred domain this way, it was like this when I first started using WM tools.

However, I have built the majority of my links with the www, which I've always viewed as part of the web address.

When I put my site into an SEO Moz campaign it recognized the www version as a subdomain which I thought was strange, but now I realize it's due to the www vs. non www preferred domain distinction.

A look at site:mysite.com shows that Google is indexing both the www and non www version of the site. My site appears healthy in terms of traffic, but my sense is that a few technical SEO items are holding me back from a breakthrough.

QUESTION to the SEOmoz community:

What the hell should I do? Change the preferred domain settings? 301 redirect from non www domain to the www domain?

Google suggests this: "Once you've set your preferred domain, you may want to use a 301 redirect to redirect traffic from your non-preferred domain, so that other search engines and visitors know which version you prefer."

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[RyanKent]

You need to make a decision. Do you want your site address to be seen with or without the www?

Try to assess which version of your URL would require the least number of re-directs. You mentioned the links you built mostly include the www. Take a look at all of your links. You may have a higher number of organic links without the www. Evaluate all the links, then make a decision.

Once you make a decision, stick with it. Canonicalize all your pages with the correct version of the URL. Search your site for all internal links and standardize them.

While you are on this project standardize whether you use a "/" on the end of your url as well. www.mysite.com is not the same as www.mysite.com/. I make this suggestion because if you will go through the painful process of standardizing your site for the www issue, you should resolve all issues at once.

[sferrino]

As Ryan said, make a decision. The easiest way to make sure either of your decisions sticks is to use an htaccess file and rewrite to your preferred.

If using the www version:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^[0-9]+(.[0-9]+){3} [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mydomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

if using the non www version:

RewriteEngine On

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

A few other questions to keep in mind:

Do you get a lot of type-in traffic?

Do they tend to type the www?

In the SERP it is easier to read the domain name with out the www if looking for a specific domain name. Do you have a brand built where people just say your domain name?

[JSOC]

Guys,

Thanks for the input. I just want to do what is best for traffic and the site. I don't want to do anything that is going to tank my rankings and visitors.

I don't get alot of type in traffic.

www is the main way the links have been built, why not just redirect those to the non www version?

[RyanKent]

You are welcome to do so. Go to Google WMT, change your current option to the www, then adjust your .htaccess file as Steven suggested.

Also, canonicalize your pages to help ensure this issue can't happen again. Your .htaccess changes will work as long as the file is there, but things happen so it's better to be covered.

[JSOC]

Thanks Ryan. So, if most of the links (including all internal links) are built with the www format then it is wise to change preferred domain settings to www and redirect the non www to the www domain?

Am I likely to damage rankings/traffic by doing this? What happens if I just leave it as is?

[RyanKent]

The worst thing you can do is nothing.

www.mysite.com

www.mysite.com/

mysite.com

mystic.com/

www.mysite.com/index.html

Above is 5 examples of URLs which COULD all lead to the same page. There are numerous other possibilities as well. If you don't let Google know which version of the page is correct, then you will suffer the consequences of duplicate content.

What happens is Google doesn't know which page is correct. They will pick one of the non-www versions because that is what your Google WMT is set up to do. Meanwhile other versions of the pages are being used.

You are sending your link juice to a page, but it is a complete waste as it is not being considered by Google for SERP. You MUST resolve this issue if you care about SEO at all.