www prefix

[Guy]

Hi all, happy new year.

I could do with some advice please. Google was seeing my site as 2 different sites with the same content, which is obviously not good.

These are http://www.it-shop-online.co.uk
and http://it-shop-online.co.uk

I have added a permanent redirect so it works fine when you enter either url.

However, the problem comes when I submit my sitemap to google, i get errors stating that

We've detected that you submitted your Sitemap using a URL path that includes the www prefix (for instance, http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml). However, the URLs listed inside your Sitemap don't use the www prefix (for instance, http://example.com/myfile.htm).

I have tried changing my network settings in Actinic with and without www for the catalog, CGI-BIN & site URL's and all the url's have a "/" on the end.

I have tried many things, but run out of ideas now. Does anyone know how I can rectify this please?

Thanks in advance
Guy.

[leehack]

Use Google webmaster tools and tell it which domain to use. I always prefer to stop it at source than try and rectify the problems it causes.

[Guy]

That sounds far too simple..lol.

So is that all I'd need to do and leaving the redirect in place I presume?

[leehack]

If you tell Google that you want them to use either the www or the non-www, they will do as you say is all i can say really. It doesn't happen instantly as they remove things in their own time, however within a pretty short period of time, you will find that Google does not list any of your non-preferred domain.

[Guy]

Ok, have done as you suggested. thanks for the advice it's appreciated.

[Paul Bulpit]

I didn't know I could access my site without using www., is there a quick explanation of the difference, please?

Just tested this quickly on a few sites in my favourites, and found that some still worked without www and some redirected instantly.

Should I have a redirect & where does it go?