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---- Canonical problems?


Quadrille - 3:04 pm on Sep 22, 2006 (gmt 0)


Do a search for 301 redirects.

It's a big problem; essentially, SEs see www.domain.com and domain.com as two different sites. This therefore divides your ranking between two domains, and induces Google to list half the pages as 'supplementary' results. And if other issues apply (such as identical meta tags), pages could be dropped completely.

It does not apply to all sites - if a site has always used one form (www.domain.com or domain.com), and no internal or external links exist to the alternate, then peace reigns.

But links to both forms precipitates the problem; Google follows the link, respiders the site, and adds it to the index. Then discovers it duplicates the other form, and problems go on from there.

The solution is alarmingly simple: Choose one - the convention is www.domain.com but the choice is yours - and '301 redirect' from the other to the chosen domain.

[edited by: Quadrille at 3:06 pm (utc) on Sep. 22, 2006]


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