A client recently asked me whether or not it makes a difference that their website appears on search engines without the “www”… In other words this question has to do with the non www versions of domain names or more specifically what is referred to as a canonical domain and how it effects SEO (search engine optimization).
By default I build sites and submit sites without the “www”, because it looks cleaner, is shorter and easier to tell someone or put on a business card, brochure or tee shirt.
On search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, (all of which I submit sites to), the domain name displays simply yourwebsite.com
If someone types into their Internet browser address bar any canonical combo i.e.; http://www.yourwebsite.com or yourwebsite.com or http://yourwebsite.com or http://www.yourwebsite.com they are all treated the same and take the visitor to your website.
Inside the control panel of Google webmaster tools they do offer the ability to have Google index the www or non www versions as distinct sites. That is for webmasters who may want use the different versions to point to completely different websites. Personally I have never seen anyone do this, nor do I know what purpose it would serve. The primary reason someone may need to use this feature I think, is if over a long period of time their website domain has become dropped or penalized in search engines as a duplicate site because it is showing up as both www. and the non www. versions. This CAN happen, (although I have never seen it happen), when the domain is submitted or links created with both the http://www. and simply http:// versions of the reference link.
I would recommend that you simply use the non www version of your domain name when submitting links to other sites, submitting the site to search engines, typing the domain name into the address bar in Internet browsers etc.
There is an article regarding this matter at Matt Cutts blog. He is an engineer at Google who has clearance to discuss certain inside information with the public. See:http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-url-canonicalization/
Essentially you should not have to concern yourself with trying to distinguish www and non www domain names. I’ve never seen it cause any issues, but the potential concern is that a search engine may drop the site for appearing to be a duplicate. With that said however I will stress that in the past 8 years I have never seen a site dropped or penalized for appearing as both www and non www versions…
Category : Blog
Finally got set back up, so I am able to get online using my web design PC and get some work done and updates taken care of. The number one issue some of my clients have had is the cancellation of free hosting… Again – I recommend that if you happen to have a domain name, (“www.______.com”), that I registered and a site that I hosted on MY servers, it needs to be moved to YOUR account. IF you do not have a domain registrar account and hosting account, I recommend using GoDaddy.com since its easiest and quickest for me to transfer the domain name and site to a GoDaddy account. I have had clients choose “other” companies instead of GoDaddy and the transfer process is sluggish and more intensive.
The other thing I have had inquiries about is refunds. I normally DO NOT offer refunds of any kind, (this is standard in the industry). In the event that I sold services I could not provide, I am considering refunds as long as they are submitted through this website’s support ticket system. Please note that I’ve had clients contact me wanting refunds for sites that are already built and have been online for months. NO REFUNDS will be provided in those cases. If there happen to be outstanding design issues that are pending I will of course do my best to make those changes ASAP. I’ve also had one client that is trying to obtain a refund, via the local police department instead of through this website’s support ticket system. Even more interesting is that he is trying to get a refund in excess of what he paid for a website… In other words, he wants $500 refund for a $299 website. REFUNDS WILL ONLY BE CONSIDERED IF SUBMITTED THROUGH THE SUPPORT SYSTEM AT http://bestseowebdesign.com (and no… I will not refund retail price for a sale item).
Category : Blog
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