Linking Root Domains www and non-www

[Amueller]

I just ran our site through Open Site Explorer.  If I run the non-www version I get 30 root domains, if I run www I get 177.  Is it wise to try and contact those sites using the non-www version and ask them to update the links to www version?  Will that make much of a difference?

[RyanPurkey]

If you have a 301 redirect in place pointing the non-www to the www (or vice versa) you won't be losing link value from either link. You should also put both versions in Goggle Webmaster Tools and set your preferred domain there to further cement which one is the defacto URL. See: http://moz.com/learn/seo/canonicalization

Contacting people linking to you can be good in and of itself if as that can further the relationship. They might have ideas for more content they'd like to see on your site, or insights into what they like.

[gowebsol]

Definitely try to get them to point to the www version. You never know...one of those links could be a heavy-weight. It's just good practice to pick one and stick to it.

[Amueller]

Thanks.  Our domain has been set to www since it launched last year in GWT.  That is fine and working as it should.  Hopefully some of these guys will be willing to change to add the www.