Building backlinks to http:// or www. ?

nakamura · Jan 27, 2015

Hi guys, recently I noticed that I build almost all my backlinks to http://mywebsite.com, but the website uses "www.".

So, without www. (only http://) it is redirecting to www.mydomain.com .
I checked ahrefs on both domains and found that only http:// has 400 backlinks more than the domain with www..
Should I change it to only http://mydomain.com or just let it be? Cuz its redirecting automatically.

btw. is it possible and easy to change it? I am using Bluehost.

Tactician · Jan 27, 2015

Add this to your .htaccess if you want to force http:// - you say it's redirecting automatically so there would be no issue anyway..

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://mywebsite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Aty · Jan 27, 2015

That's a huge mistake you made there. I wouldn't change the url at this point though.

MarketingAgency · Jan 27, 2015

I have this question , my site in google show site . com and for link building i use http :/ / www . site . com , this is not problem ?

nonai · Jan 27, 2015

it doesnt matter just permanently redirect one to the other.

RuthSam · Jan 27, 2015

Yes, use htaccess to point all links to www. this will take some time before google notice it, but once done, you will get much better results.

SERPkiller · Jan 27, 2015

Setting up a redirect should be enough for everything to work.

Zwielicht · Jan 27, 2015

At this juncture, I wouldn't change the website's domain to a naked domain as you're bound to run into some canonicalisation issues depending on which domain you use throughout your website (your internal link structure) and which domain Google indexes (you can set your preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools).

IMpossible · Jan 27, 2015

nakamura said:
Hi guys, recently I noticed that I build almost all my backlinks to http://mywebsite.com, but the website uses "www.".

So, without www. (only http://) it is redirecting to www.mydomain.com .
I checked ahrefs on both domains and found that only http:// has 400 backlinks more than the domain with www..
Should I change it to only http://mydomain.com or just let it be? Cuz its redirecting automatically.

btw. is it possible and easy to change it? I am using Bluehost.

Did you create your links manually or with tools (GSA etc)?

Openside · Jan 27, 2015

Just realised the same thing today on my Wordpress site. In my general settings it is set to naked url and that is what is indexed a swell as what I am building links to.

does it make a difference if www or naked urf is ranking? I see in wmt that you can set a preference? Thanks

BrandingCat · Jan 27, 2015

I prefer without www because on search engines will show more characters from the pages ( 3 characters actually )

Openside · Jan 27, 2015

My site automatically redirects from www o http as it is. Should I just leave as it is and it won't affect my seo either way?

rogerke · Jan 27, 2015

Ideally you want to build the links directly to the structure you're using right now. (301) redirects lose about 15% link juice, so it's a little less effective to do it the way you're doing it now. It isn't going to make or break your rankings though.

jahbuzor · Jan 27, 2015

nakamura said:
Hi guys, recently I noticed that I build almost all my backlinks to http://mywebsite.com, but the website uses "www.".

So, without www. (only http://) it is redirecting to www.mydomain.com .
I checked ahrefs on both domains and found that only http:// has 400 backlinks more than the domain with www..
Should I change it to only http://mydomain.com or just let it be? Cuz its redirecting automatically.

btw. is it possible and easy to change it? I am using Bluehost.

Since you build all your backlinks to the http version. Do change it to that. If you use wordpress, you can change that using the settings tab.

todman2112 · Jan 28, 2015

Like #Zwielicht said you can do this from Webmaster Tool Account. Probably that's where you saw this issue on the first time.

ugjunk · Jan 28, 2015

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/members/701565-zwielicht.html pointed out the issue correctly, at this point of stage, do not change your link structure, but focus on building links on both but give higher priority to the one you link as Google appreciates the diversification in backlinks.

Building backlinks to http:// or www. ?

nakamura

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Aty

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