When it comes to building a website or setting up a blog, most people skip the step of setting a preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools. Although it’s not required or necessary to set a preferred domain, there is an SEO benefit that you’ll get from making sure Google has confirmed your preferred domain in the search engines. When I first logged into my Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) I noticed that there wasn’t a preferred domain set for this website AndrewPavelski.com. Although I’m not some webmaster tools expert, I did figure out how to set my preferred domain and can explain how you can set yours so that you get a little bit more ranking power in the Google search engine. I’m going to break down “preferred domains” so that you get a better understanding of the whole concept.
What is a preferred domain? (WWW vs. Non WWW)
A preferred domain is how you want your website listed in the search engine results. Additionally, it is how your URL will show up in someone’s browser when they visit your website. There are really only two main ways that your website can be listed in the search engines as far as preferred domains are concerned:
1. Without a “WWW” prefix a.k.a. “Non WWW”
My website here is listed with a “Non WWW” prefix. If you type my name into Google, you will see that this website is listed as “andrewpavelski.com” – there is no WWW included after the “http://” and before the beginning of “andrewpavelski.com.” If you type the URL of my website into your browser, it will show up either as “andrewpavelski.com” or “http://andrewpavelski.com” – there will not be a WWW prefix included.
2. With a “WWW” prefix
The other way that a website can be listed is with a “WWW” in the URL (website address). So if I would have wanted to, I could have had my website show up in the Google search results as “www.andrewpavelski.com” instead of just “andrewpavelski.com.” If you like the look of WWW in front of your domain, that’s what you can use. I personally think the WWW’s just take up space and are useless so I just left them out of this domain. I do have them included in the URL of other websites that I own though.
Is a “WWW” domain better than a “Non WWW” domain?
In terms of search engine rankings and SEO, there really isn’t any difference between having a “www” or “non www” domain. So in terms of whether you should go with “WWW” as a prefix or go with the “Non WWW” is completely up to you. What do you think looks better when you’re searching for a website? How would you rather your website appear to visitors? It’s completely up to you to decide whatever you want to go with. Either way, they are going to end up at the same root domain regardless of whether you decide to have a “www” prefix.
Examples of websites that use “WWW” domains:
1. www.Wikipedia.org
2. www.Google.com
3. www.Yahoo.com
4. www.Facebook.com
5. www.Nasa.gov
As you can see, the majority of heavyweights on the internet use “www” as their prefix in the listings as well as in their URL. I think “www” may look more legit and professional in certain cases, but it really doesn’t make any difference whether you go with “www.” All that the “www” prefix means is “world wide web” – there’s nothing really that special about it. Sure there are a lot of websites with major clout that sport the “www” but you really don’t need it. Personally, I like the way mine looks without “www” and I don’t like to be a follower so I just rolled with the “non www.”
Examples of websites with “Non WWW” domains:
1. AndrewPavelski.com
2. Twitter.com
3. ESPN.go.com
4. Digg.com
5. ImageShack.us
Besides my website AndrewPavelski.com bypassing the “www” in its search engine listing, there are several other high profile websites that I can think of off the top of my head that don’t use “www” either. One of my favorite websites “ESPN.go.com” doesn’t have “www” in their listings either. If you type in a “www.espn.go.com” you will be redirected to their preferred domain of “espn.go.com” without any “www.” Plus Twitter, Digg, and ImageShack also don’t want to put “www” before their name.
Why I don’t use a “WWW” in my preferred domain listing here at AndrewPavelski.com?
The reason that I don’t use a “www” is just because I don’t like the way it looks. I would rather have people focused more on my domain name and less on having to worry about typing “www.” Even though “www” is only three letters and most people know that it’s standard with domain names, it isn’t necessary and I want to keep things as simple and minimal as possible in the search engines and for people that want to find my website. Plus I don’t really like to follow what everyone else is doing with their domains. Call me a rebel, badass mofo, or whatever you want, I just didn’t feel like going with “www” on this website.
How to set a preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools
1. Log in to Google Webmaster Tools – Hopefully you already have a Google Webmaster Tools account. You can get one for free and it’s a really smart idea to have an account. They will report performance issues with your website and help you get on the right track to getting it properly indexed. Anyways, after you have logged in, you will want to add your website if it isn’t already listed.
2. Add 2 listings of your website – In order to properly add your website so that you can set a preferred domain, you will need to add both a “www” and “non www” version of your website. Why you need to add both I don’t really know, but it’s what you need to do. So for my website here, I would add both: “www.AndrewPavelski.com” and “http://AndrewPavelski.com.”
3. Verify your website with the proper code – Google requires that you verify your website by copying code that they give you and adding it to your theme (i.e. add the meta tag or upload HTML). If you are using the Thesis WordPress theme, you can just copy the code and add it to your “Stat and Tracking Scripts” area under “Site Options.” Verification can take awhile, so I’d just wait about 24 hours instead of constantly checking back to see whether your website has been verified.
4. Set the preferred domain for your 2 listings – After you have verified your website in your Google Webmaster Tools, the next step is to select your preferred domain. If I was working with the domain name “MaybachMusicGroup.com” I would have added both “www.MaybachMusicGroup.com” and “MaybachMusicGroup.com” to the webmaster tools menu. After verified, I would go click on each separate listing and set the same preferred domain. So if I wanted my website to appear without any “www” I would go into each one and select “MaybachMusicGroup.com.” In order to do this, just scroll down to “settings” as you can see in the picture above, then set the preferred domain.
5. Message: The Preferred Domain Has Been Changed – When you have officially set and updated your preferred domain, you will likely get a message in your Google Webmaster Tools account telling you that your preferred domain has been selected or changed. This message is just to verify that changes were made and really isn’t that big of a deal.
Why you should set a preferred domain for your website
A lot of people skip the step of setting a preferred domain for their websites. You certainly can skip the step of setting a preferred domain and still get search engine traffic if you are using the best WordPress permalink structure for SEO. However, based on what I know, you really only get half the power in the Google search engine rankings if you don’t take the time to set a preferred domain name.
In other words, if you don’t set a preferred domain name, Google will have both the “www” and “non www” version of your website in its index and dilute the power between the two. If you select a preferred domain, it lets them know which one should hold all of the power. So you basically go from a 50 50 split to a 100% of the weight on your chosen a.k.a. “preferred domain.” I know that Google is constantly changing the way it operates in order to make things easier for people and webmasters, but based on my experience, I think it’s a good idea to always make sure that you have a preferred domain selected.
Error Message when Setting a Preferred Domain
Some people may encounter a common error message in their Google Webmaster Tools when setting a preferred domain if they haven’t followed the instructions that I’ve listed above. What can happen is that you’ll get an error message on your account saying:
“Part of the process of setting a preferred domain is to verify that you own (your website listed here). Please verify (your website).”
This is where I originally had a problem with my website, but got things fixed simply by making sure that I had both the “www” and “non-www” versions listed in my Google Webmaster Tools and selected the exact same preferred domain for each one. This is a common error that people get when they fail to add both domains to their GWT profile.
Getting links to your preferred domain
Always get links to match your preferred domain
If your domain name is AndrewPavelski.com, you probably don’t want to be sending links back to your website with “www” in front of them. So if you link to this post, please don’t add the “www” – just copy the URL from your browser to formulate the link! It’s not going to result in any kind of penalty if you get links to your non-preferred domain, that’s a complete myth. However, it just makes way more sense and will likely be better if you consistently use the same types of links.
Internal linking to match your preferred domain
If you are doing internal linking within your website, you’ll want to make sure that you are also sending links to the preferred domain that you selected. If your website is “www.ImABoss.com” and you write a post called “How To Be A Boss” it may show up like this “www.ImABoss.com/how-to-be-a-boss/”… Well if you are linking to it from another post on your website and your preferred domain contains the “www” you don’t want to take the “www” out and link to “ImABoss.com/how-to-be-a-boss/” without the “www.”
Consistently use your preferred domain and avoid your non-preferred domain
Just remember to be consistent in all areas with your domain name usage. If you decide to go with “www” stick with it. Always make sure that you include “www” before your domain name URL. If you decide to go with the “non www” don’t go around adding “www” to your backlinks and internal links. It’s a pretty simple concept that most competent and experienced webmasters follow. However, if you aren’t too brilliant when it comes to running an optimized website, just try to make a note of this fact. It won’t be the end of the world if you screw up and accidentally have used the non-preferred version in a link, but in these cases it helps to have a 301 redirect set up.
Use a 301 redirect to redirect traffic to from your non-preferred domain
When you have set up a preferred domain in your Google Webmaster Tools account, you’ll probably want to set up what’s called a “301 redirect” so that you can redirect traffic from your non-preferred domain to your preferred domain. This helps by “redirecting” traffic from your non-preferred domain to whatever you selected as your preferred domain when someone types it in wrong (e.g. uses the non-preferred domain) in their browser or when linking to your content.
Google Webmaster Tools updated information
Google no longer adds the non-preferred domain automatically
The reason that they originally required both is due to the fact that you can see any information that has a connection to your non-preferred domain. A lot of people ended up getting really confused with this process. So Google made some changes in order to make things a little bit less confusing… Now when you set your preferred domain, Google doesn’t automatically add the non-preferred version to your account. In my opinion (as someone who dealt with an error in my GWT), I think that it may throw some people off if they are having verification problems. If you are having verification errors, it’s likely because you don’t have both your preferred and non-preferred domain listed. Just follow the steps that I outlined above and things will get quickly straightened out.
You cannot add a Sitemap for your non-preferred domain
This is completely sensible and is something that I’m glad to see changed. It makes absolutely no sense to have a Sitemap for both your preferred domain and non-preferred domain. That’s why if you don’t select which one you prefer, some experts argue that power may get diluted. I personally don’t think it matters as much as people say, but it’s better to be on the safe side than missing out on traffic that you really deserve to get. For more information on getting visitors, be sure to read about how to increase website traffic.
Google FAQ regarding preferred domains
I scoured the GoogleWebmasterCentral.Blogspot.com archives to find out more about preferred domains just in case anybody had any questions. It seems as though their team of experts took some good questions and answered them. It’s a good idea to read them over so that you know what to expect when you set up your preferred domain. I compiled the questions that people will likely have about the topic so that they don’t have to dig in the archives themselves and find the answers.
1. After I set up a preferred domain, how long do I have to wait before seeing it listed?
It shouldn’t take more than a few weeks, but may be quicker or longer depending on how many pages you have indexed and the crawl rate of your website. In other words, if you get more traffic, the process should be quicker.
2. If links are to the non-preferred domain, do they still count?
Yes, they are treated as links to the preferred domain regardless if they are to the preferred or non-preferred domain. In other words, I may have been wrong about placing emphasis on consistent link to your preferred domain, but I wouldn’t want to take any chances. Plus it does take longer to temporarily load the page because it has to redirect from non-preferred to the preferred setting. In other words, your PageRank will not get diluted if people are linking to your non-preferred domain.
3. Does Google automatically set a preferred domain over time?
They don’t select a preferred domain for you, that is something that you need to do. However, if more people send links to the “www” version of your website, you will likely see more “www” versions listed in the results in comparison to “non-www.” Over time, the Google index is able to recognize if there are two versions of a URL pointing to the exact same page. What they will do is gradually weed out the versions that are used less often. With that said, it is going to be a bigger benefit to you if you just select which one you prefer as far in advance as possible.
Conclusion
Hopefully by now you realize that it’s probably a good idea to set up a preferred domain in your Google Webmaster Tools account if you haven’t already. I outlined how you can set up the preferred domain, discussed that it’s not any better to go with the “www” or “non-www” and comes completely down to personal preference. Which one do you think you like better? Just use your own judgment, flip a coin, IDK do whatever the hell you want.
Additionally, if you encounter an error when trying to set up a preferred domain like I did, I told you how to get out of it; just add the non preferred version to your GWT. This stuff is not rocket science, but to the average webmaster that doesn’t know what the fawk a preferred domain is, it may seem like a completely foreign topic from another planet. Anyways, if you liked this post, feel free to share it with people by linking to it. Hopefully you don’t all of a sudden get the urge to throw on “www” to AndrewPavelski.com because I don’t need that extra clutter stealing the shine in my URL.
If you have any questions, comments, or want to share your experience with preferred domains, feel free to drop a comment below. I’m not an expert and don’t claim to be, I just try to share what I know so that people don’t end up confused if they see this in their Webmaster Tools or have any problems with it. Final comment: WWW = MMM upside down… haha
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good set of information. I have set both www and non-www in my GWT last week, before all links were properly crawled by Google. But today some how Google is not adding my new links in their search engine. Is there any problem.
Hey Minesh, as long as you’ve set a “preferred domain” and chose either the “WWW” or “non-WWW” – you should be fine. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time for their crawlers to sort out the URL’s if you didn’t choose a preferred domain from the start. Just keep building links to the preferred domain and everything should fix itself in time. Hope that helps!