Domain Authority... http://www.domain.com/ vs. http://domain.com vs. http://domain.com/

[Mr_Snack]

Hey Guys,

Looking at Page Authority for my Site and ranking them in Decending Order, I see these 3

http://www.domain.com/    |  Authority 62

http://domain.com      |  Authority 52

http://domain.com/     |   Authority 52

Since the first one listed has the highest Authority, should I be using a 301 redirects on the lower ranking variations (which I understand how works)

or should I be using

rel="canonical"

(which I don't really understand how it works)

Also, if this is a problem that I should address, should we see a significant boost if fixed?

Thanks ahead of time for anyone who can help a lost sailor who doesn't know how to sail and probably shouldn't have left shore in the first place.

Cheers

ZP!

[MattAntonino]

I would do both things.

1. Setup the proper 301 redirects so you get the value of the other (technically duplicate) addresses. This is the way Google itself works as well as Wordpress sites and most other major CMS setups. How you technically do this depends on the configuration of the site but yes, do this.

2. Setup canonicals for any pages that need it once the redirect is done. You won't have duplicates on those above pages but may on other pages (any parameter based pages, etc.)  I setup canonicals as a matter of course on any site I can anyways. I haven't found a harm and I've found plenty of good reasons to set them up.  Plus canonicals possibly help when people steal your content. And they sure don't hurt.

So, both.

[Mr_Snack]

For the two URLS with lower Authority,

Would it be recommended to link to another key page on my site,

like the key features page for example so it get's some important juice?

Or best just to link to the page that it's supposed to be?

Thanks again community

[MattAntonino]

I would do the proper 301s ... pass it to the most relevant page.