UPDATE on Google Preferred Domain
In regards to my post yesterday on Google Preferred Domain, and a post that was done on a buddies site, I was wondering more and more which way was correct, so I contacted Aaron Wall from SEO Book and here is what he had to say:
Hi Mat
It was great meeting you. honestly I dont think it matters either way. i have seen search engines during ifrastructure updates screw up redirects either way, but usually it should not matter.
Some places require that you use a www. when submitting your site (a couple directories do this i think) … but really as long as your redirect is proper, either way should be fine.cheers,
aaron
First of all thanks to Aaron for getting back to me and answering this question. Although it may not seem like a big deal to some that I am even posting about this (I thought it was) because if you do it wrong it can kill rankings and the way search engines crawl you. So I wanted to make sure everyone that reads this blog atleast was doing it correctly.
It does seem in some cases though as Aaron stated that certain directories want the www. form when submitted, and this was one of my biggest arguments from the start of this topic. So, other then (possibly) not being able to submit to a few directories, or other such sites it seems we have an anwer.
My conclusion, As long as you pick a domain structure method, and stick with it you are covered with search engines! Personally, I still prefer the www’s as opposed to the non www version cause of style (and directory/site submissions), but either way you do it, it seems it will not hurt search engine crawlability and indexing (and this is the number one reason I really brought this topic to light). So, I would like to thank my good buddy at the Utah Internet Marketing blog for giving me the “drive” to research and find an answer to this one!
Thoughts?
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You’re right. In the end I’m mainly glad that we took the time to find out and were able to share the findings. That’s what blogs are for and I hope both our readers make use of the lesson.
if we keep pushing ourselves to do better we will. If we stay stagnant and comfortable in our habits we’ll never break out.