With or without the www.?

[Griffey]

I have a question about link popularity.

First with the link popularity checker that I access on this site, it says my site has 172 total incoming links. But when I check again with out using the www. it says I have only a total of 3. What is up with this?

Also should i use the www. when I'm adding my site to directories and which format does the search engines prefer http://www.yousitename.com or http://yoursitename.com ?

Also how often does link popularity get updated?

Thanks for the help!

[ben_tambling]

the question is 'what is your preferred link' to your site?

if you prefer the w/ www link,, you always have to add the www when building links... then if not, you have to remove it....

[alvis]

Always add www when you building link via directory submission, article submission etc

[jean]

I always use the www as well.

[links4info]

Always better to put www. as it will save some micoseconds for manipulating your site into www version

[stevewaganer]

Put www. when you are doing link building use url with www.

[beveiliging]

I use always www for links and to be sure that does not happen any misunderstanding this is my line into .htaccess to redirect non www to www

Code: Select all

# redirect non-www to www domain
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domainname\.com [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.domainname.com/$1 [R=301,L]

[x3mario]

It's better to use always the www. A domain name with www is different from a domain without www.

[Ka-canor]

It's better to use always the www. A domain name with www is different from a domain without www.

Same here dude I also prefer a site with www.

[matthemattrix]

Thanks for this info. I was always confused about this, so during my link building campaigns I have been doing some submission with the "www" and some without. Will include it always from now on.

[Ka-canor]

I'm much in favor to use 301 to redirect bought with www and without.

[mdamin76]

From google webmasters tool you can set which term that you prefer to be used in google. You can change it to use with "www" or without "www".

[rayter]

I follow the standards. I think using “www” is the internet standard for domains and subdomains. That's what I use all the time.