{"id":122,"date":"2013-03-09T14:39:55","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T14:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/\/?p=122"},"modified":"2023-11-24T16:45:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T16:45:12","slug":"how-to-set-your-preferred-domain-and-double-the-power-of-your-backlinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/how-to-set-your-preferred-domain-and-double-the-power-of-your-backlinks\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Your Preferred Domain and Double the Power of Your Backlinks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Setting your preferred domain is a simple SEO tip that every website owner should know, and every SEO should know how to do. Following this simple tip can even double the power of your link building efforts. However, not following this SEO tip could cut those efforts in half.<\/p>\n<h2>3 reasons why you should set your preferred domain:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1. The Panda Update<\/strong><br \/>\nA large reason for the Panda update was for Google to rid their search results of duplicate content. Google sees YourDomain.com and www.YourDomain.com as two different web pages. This could be perceived as duplicate content. So setting your preferred domain (www or no www) will let Google know which domain they should crawl and index.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Double the Power of your Backlinks<\/strong><br \/>\nIf Google thinks the www and non www version of a web page are different pages, then there is a strong possibility that being inconsistent with the preferred domain you build links to could hurt your link building efforts.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c\u2026if you specify your preferred domain as http:\/\/www.example.com and we find a link to your site that is formatted as http:\/\/example.com, we follow that link as http:\/\/www.example.com instead.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>~ <strong>Google<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/44231?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Preferred domain (www or non-www)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say your preferred domain is not set, and half the time you link to www.YourDomain.com and the other half you link to YourDomain.com. There is a strong possibility that Google may think you\u2019re linking to two different web pages, therefore cutting your link building efforts in half. Why take that chance? Now, Google does try to canonicalize matching domains, but they don&#8217;t guarantee it, as Matt Cutts&#8217; explains below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qr2Rg8sJRUU?feature=player_embedded\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Personal Preference<\/strong><br \/>\nI don\u2019t know about you but I always set my preferred domain to no www. In my opinion, why say www if you don\u2019t have to? www doesn\u2019t roll off the tongue very well. In fact, many people just say dub, dub dub. So I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone here.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Set Your Preferred Domain in 2 Easy Steps<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Step 1. 301 Redirect<\/strong><br \/>\nOpen up your .htaccess file and add the following code. Don\u2019t forget to change YourDomain.com to your actual domain.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">If you prefer no www like me then add this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">RewriteEngine On<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.YourDomain.com$ [NC]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http:\/\/YourDomain.com\/$1 [R=301,L]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">If you prefer to use www then add this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">RewriteEngine On<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(.*)\\.YourDomain\\.com$ [NC]<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http:\/\/www.YourDomain.com\/$1 [R=301,L]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2. Set Your Webmaster tools<\/strong><br \/>\nOpen up your webmaster tools and click \u201cSettings\u201d right below \u201cConfiguration\u201d. To the right look for the \u201cPreferred Domain\u201d and select which domain you prefer. Make sure it\u2019s consistent with your preference in step 1.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/how-to-set-preferred-domain1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-127 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/how-to-set-preferred-domain1.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-set-preferred-domain(1)\" width=\"500\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/how-to-set-preferred-domain1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/how-to-set-preferred-domain1-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you get an error, chances are you need to verify that you own both www and non www versions of your site (silly right?). To verify, simply add the other version of your site (www or non www) to webmaster tools and verify. Tip: try using the same verification code that you used to verify your first domain. That way you\u2019re just one click from verification.<\/p>\n<p>Want more? Too bad that\u2019s all there is to it. If I left something out, scream at me below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/large-blog-ad-green.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3033 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/large-blog-ad-green.png\" alt=\"large-blog-ad-green\" width=\"750\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/large-blog-ad-green.png 750w, https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/large-blog-ad-green-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/large-blog-ad-green-624x332.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Setting your preferred domain is a simple SEO tip that every website owner should know, and every SEO should know how to do. Following this simple tip can even double the power of your link building efforts. However, not following this SEO tip could cut those efforts in half. 3 reasons why you should set [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":4802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/How-to-Set-Your-Preferred-Domain.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/itunes-cover.jpg","download_link":false,"player_link":false,"audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"HwBm8Ue9WR\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/how-to-set-your-preferred-domain-and-double-the-power-of-your-backlinks\/\">How to Set Your Preferred Domain and Double the Power of Your Backlinks<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/how-to-set-your-preferred-domain-and-double-the-power-of-your-backlinks\/embed\/#?secret=HwBm8Ue9WR\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;How to Set Your Preferred Domain and Double the Power of Your Backlinks&#8221; &#8212; MySiteAuditor\" data-secret=\"HwBm8Ue9WR\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(c,d){\"use strict\";var e=!1,o=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),l=0;l<n.length;l++)n[l].style.display=\"none\";for(l=0;l<i.length;l++)if(r=i[l],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if(\"link\"===t.message)if(s=d.createElement(\"a\"),a=d.createElement(\"a\"),s.href=r.getAttribute(\"src\"),a.href=t.value,!o.test(a.protocol));else if(a.host===s.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener(\"message\",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",t,!1),c.addEventListener(\"load\",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf(\"MSIE 10\"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(\/Trident.*rv:11\\.\/),i=d.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+=\"#?secret=\"+r,t.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute(\"security\"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:r},\"*\")}}}}(window,document);\n<\/script>\n"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Set Preferred Domain &amp; Double the Power of Backlinks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maximize the impact of your backlinks by setting your preferred domain. Discover how to harness the full potential of link building strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysiteauditor.com\/blog\/how-to-set-your-preferred-domain-and-double-the-power-of-your-backlinks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Set Preferred Domain &amp; Double the Power of Backlinks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maximize the impact of your backlinks by setting your preferred domain. 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