Will adding the "www" to my site hurt any links to my site without the "www"?

[Mike]

My site is formatted like "http://mysite.com". If I change it to "http://www.mysite.com" will it hurt my SEO (or anything relating) for any links previously out there on facebook, google+, websites, etc?... My site is set up so either way works (with or without "www"), it just displays on search results without the "www". And I don't really like the look.

Thanks and any additional info would be great.

[Em D]

No it doesn't make a difference if you have www Example: yahoo.com you don't have to have www for every site some specific sites or school possibly require www

[Inda Cloud]

You'll need to 301 redirect the non www to the www version if you want to keep any SEO rankings you may have in search engines.

[Jake]

Search engines can handle the www and non www versions as different page, which dilutes the ranking power, ideally every link to your site would constantly use the same format.

Not sure about the 301 recommendations.

Some hosts have a control panel setting that enforces your preference, so if someone visits mysite.com the url gets changed to http://www.mysite.com so if the visitor bookmarks or copiy and links to the address in the browser address bar, they get the right version, this same address form overide can be done in the .htaccess file most hosts have.

[Abu Aslad]

@Jake

Jake You are absolutely correct.Search Engines treat "WWW" & "non-WWW" page as diffrent page.You will lose your baclink value hence there will be loss of Page Rank.If you have created many baclink with "non-WWW" then cntinue with it without 301 redirect.

[Jassica]

Hi,

Use 301 redirect....

[Brandon]

It wont have any effects on your site

[raja]

Hi,

If you are already having any back-links for your site (http://mysite.com). Please continue that url only. If you are starting seo now you can add WWW that won't heart seo part. And as well as it's look good for all viewers.

[Sampas]

definately not!, it is way better to get your site working without any prefixes "www" or "http"

[Mike]

For our web properties we make sure we go by www. version only. You will have to set up both versions in Webmaster Tools and than tell WMT that you prefer www. This is the best way to go, those things you do from the very beginning after finishing building your site. Ofcourse, you can still tell WMT which version you prefer to make it clear to Google as well.


Good luck,
DesignSixty6.com