Search on "example.com" versus www.example.com

[Crush]

Just bought a nice oldie domain with lots of gov, edus etc but when searched with inverted commas "example.com" it does not show the domain at all in google but when searched for www.example.com then shows nicely. Any ideas of filter/penalty?

[edited by: tedster at 9:56 am (utc) on July 21, 2008]
[edit reason] use example.com - it can never be owned [/edit]

[jdMorgan]

How many of the inbound links are to "www"? How many to the non-www? What are the comparative strengths of these two sets of inbound links?

Was and is there a 301 redirect in place to force example.com requests to www.example.com?

Jim

[malcolmcroucher]

If you look in google webmaster tools you can set how you would like google to see your site .

Look for the most links in either www.domain.com or .domain.com and set it up .

You might not want this though ?

Regards

Malcolm

[jdMorgan]

> google webmaster tools

That is a solution for Google only, and therefore is quite limited in usefulness. A proper 301 redirect is the way to go if domain canonicalization is desired.

But the question is not how to do that. The question is, "Why does my recently-purchased but previously-owned domain "example.com" not show up in a quoted search, while "www.example.com" does show up?

Could be because of inbound link strength, a previously-configured 301 redirect -- or both.

Jim

[Receptional Andy]

Can we get clarification of the two searches: is one for "www.example.com" and one for www.example.com (without the quotes)? It's a little unclear from the first post.

[Crush]

It is not a case the www, it is a case of either www.example.com or example.com put in inverted commas and not showing for domain.

So "www.example.com" or "example.com" will not show in Google for a search on its' own domain.

If I do without: example.com or www.example.com then it does show for this search. Hope that is clearer now?

[Crush]

another weird one. If you do your domain name in brackets (www.example.com) it should show for domain name but on this domain it does not.