Thread: What is the difference between http://url and http://www.url ?

Hi guys

is there any difference between giving the name of a site in the browser's address bar in the format


http://your site name

http://www.yoursitename


is there any issue related to cookies?

.

There shouldn't be any difference between the www and non-www version of the url. However, using both could cause canonical issues where the search engines see the two urls as separate domains. Use one version to avoid problems. You can fix canonical issues with a 301 permanent redirect.

I don't know of any real difference, but you should select one and then edit your .htaccess file to redirect one to the other - that way all traffic gets taken to whichever you choose.

For example, let's take a look at my latest blog...
I like having the www. in my URLs so I added the code below to my .htaccess so that if you visit http:// runningonlinebusiness .com/ rather than http:// www. runningonlinebusiness .com/ you are redirected to the www. form.

PHP Code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.SITENAMEHERE\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.SITENAMEHERE.com/$1 [R=301,L] 


Originally Posted by hendricius

Hi guys
is there any difference between giving the name of a site in the browser's address bar in the format

http://your site name
http://www.yoursitename

is there any issue related to cookies?

Yes. Vbulletin does this more than any other software I know. If you sign into a website at http://site.com and then go to http://www.site.com and they are experiencing canonical urls, you won't be able to login permanently.

is there any issue related to cookies?

Yes, there is an issue. Try removing the "www" from netbuilders.com and then see. You'll be logged out.

The best solution to this is posted by Kovich:

Originally Posted by Kovich

I don't know of any real difference, but you should select one and then edit your .htaccess file to redirect one to the other - that way all traffic gets taken to whichever you choose.

For example, let's take a look at my latest blog...
I like having the www. in my URLs so I added the code below to my .htaccess so that if you visit http:// runningonlinebusiness .com/ rather than http:// www. runningonlinebusiness .com/ you are redirected to the www. form.

PHP Code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.SITENAMEHERE\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.SITENAMEHERE.com/$1 [R=301,L] 


Originally Posted by bogart

There shouldn't be any difference between the www and non-www version of the url. However, using both could cause canonical issues where the search engines see the two urls as separate domains. Use one version to avoid problems. You can fix canonical issues with a 301 permanent redirect.

As Bogart mentioned,
It wont really affect.. else, You play with them and I've seen Google consider it as self-duplicate.

So the 301 meant to make sure you wont give Google any chance to count your domain twice & Even if peoples link to both www or without, It wont make any different.

I believe that the biggest issue with canonical problems is that the search engines may give you a duplicate content penalty. Google is pretty good is solving canonical issues on its own.

I found an interesting article at searchengineland that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are supporting a new canonical tag to help avoid duplicate content.

<link rel="canonical" href="">

Originally Posted by Sneakyheathen

Yes. Vbulletin does this more than any other software I know. If you sign into a website at http://site.com and then go to http://www.site.com and they are experiencing canonical urls, you won't be able to login permanently.

Originally Posted by farooqaaa

Yes, there is an issue. Try removing the "www" from netbuilders.com and then see. You'll be logged out.

The best solution to this is posted by Kovich:

Thank you very much guys..I came across the same issues you were talking about and that's the reason behind this thread. I just tried updating my forum with the above information to get redirected, and to solve this issue. Thanks once again.

Glad to hear. Did it work well?

By the way, to choose whether your WORDPRESS blog has a "WWW" or not, go to http://www.(yourblog).com/wp-admin/options-general.php and change both Blog and Wordpress URLs from http://(yourblog).com to http://www.(yourblog).com. I hope this helps!