Difference between revisions of "Learn/Don't-Lose-People-Who-Don't-Type-WWW"
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While a website's home is often at http://'''www'''.Example.com/, it's becoming less and less common for people browsing the Internet to type anything more than "Example.com" into the URL bar in their web browser. | While a website's home is often at http://'''www'''.Example.com/, it's becoming less and less common for people browsing the Internet to type anything more than "Example.com" into the URL bar in their web browser. | ||
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'''''So you don't lose visitors, it's important that both www.Example.com and Example.com (without the www) exist and take people to the content of your website.''''' | '''''So you don't lose visitors, it's important that both www.Example.com and Example.com (without the www) exist and take people to the content of your website.''''' | ||
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How to make sure that <nowiki>http://Example.com</nowiki> takes people to your website too: | How to make sure that <nowiki>http://Example.com</nowiki> takes people to your website too: | ||
Revision as of 18:50, 18 August 2010
By [[User:{{{Writer}}}|Kristina Weis]] on August __, 2010
Kristina Weis is a community manager for AboutUs.org. Kristina spends lots of time talking with website owners who are trying to promote their sites and businesses online. To learn more about Kristina and her work, see her personal page at AboutUs.org.
While a website's home is often at http://www.Example.com/, it's becoming less and less common for people browsing the Internet to type anything more than "Example.com" into the URL bar in their web browser.
Most websites are configured to make both the www and non-www versions work, but if a website hasn't done that, it's likely that the non-www version won't resolve or do anything.
This means that would-be visitors who type "Example.com" without the www won't be taken to the website at all. Worse yet, they may assume that the website and business no longer exist.
In addition to losing would-be visitors typing in their URL bar, any links to your website that don't include the www won't work and won't take clickers to your site.
So you don't lose visitors, it's important that both www.Example.com and Example.com (without the www) exist and take people to the content of your website.
Point visitors in the right direction
How to make sure that http://Example.com takes people to your website too:
The best method is to make the non-www version of your website redirect visitors (and search engine crawlers) to the www version via a 301 "Moved Permanently" redirect. A 301 redirect is recommended because it means that your website's content only lives in one place and things that can help your search engine optimization (SEO) like PageRank will be passed to your main website.
Just putting your content on both URLs isn't ideal because of the canonicalization issue it poses for SEO.
For technical guidance on creating a 301 redirect, see this article at TutorialsRoom.com. You can find additional technical guidance in Stephan Spencer's article at SearchEngineLand.com.
Read more about growing your business on the web.