Preferred domain (www and Non-www)

[RoofingWarehous]

Ok, so ive done some reading up...

Im still getting my head around htaccess files etc.

But i read that i should set my preffered domain to either www or non-www.

Atm it is set to both, which im lead to believe isnt good.

So should my plan of action be to set it to www and then use htaccess file to point any non www to www?

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

[leehack]

That's correct yes.

[RoofingWarehous]

Ok, ive added the htaccess file to my httpdocs foler (Root)

I take it the htaccess code looks correct?

Ive tested the 301 and it seems to work, but i guess i have to wait for google to update my preferred domain..

Cheers Lee, any more suggestions would be appreciated.

[leehack]

Looks ok to me, you can set in google webmaster tools which domain you want to be used also, the htaccess rule is belt and braces and caters for others search engines and incoming links people create to your site.

[RoofingWarehous]

Looks ok to me, you can set in google webmaster tools which domain you want to be used also, the htaccess rule is belt and braces and caters for others search engines and incoming links people create to your site.

Well if i type in mysite.co.uk it takes me to www.mysite.co.uk, so i guess that works?

Off topic lee, but my site has been live for just 7 weeks and ive got a page rank 2 and alexa rank 100k UK.

Im also page 1 for Roof supplies already. Im getting about 60 unique visitors a day. Is this a "new site" thing, or should i be on a higher wage packet? If i knew how Google worked i wouldnt ask, but it does surprise me!

[Duncan Rounding]

New sites often rise fast and then settle, so don't ask for a rise just yet.

Quality inbound links are probably what you should be continually striving for to stay at the top.

The conversion rate is what you need to watch. Getting traffic is good but how many actually buy is what pays the bills.

[RoofingWarehous]

New sites often rise fast and then settle, so don't ask for a rise just yet.

Quality inbound links are probably what you should be continually striving for to stay at the top.

The conversion rate is what you need to watch. Getting traffic is good but how many actually buy is what pays the bills.

Exactly! Bing and Google are indexing well, and i have 70 backlinks according to bing now, all from high PR and relevant pages. Last night though some of the pages we were page 1 for have seem to have disappeared!! It seems to be pages that are coming off the home page

Also, in webmasters tools would i just need to change the settings in www.mysite.co.uk to point to www?

Or do i need to go into mysite.co.uk and change it there too?

As it asks you to verify both domains.

[Mike Hughes]

Your redirect seems to be working well. I checked it on a page other than the home page to make sure it was redirecting the whole of the url.

As Lee and Duncan have said, Google will give new websites and pages a short term boost before they settle down into their 'normal' position. After that it's the long slog to get ahead in the serps and stay there.

www. is a sub-domain of your domain name so if you're asked to specify www. or not at the domain level then I'd specify it there too.

Mike

[RoofingWarehous]

Your redirect seems to be working well. I checked it on a page other than the home page to make sure it was redirecting the whole of the url.

As Lee and Duncan have said, Google will give new websites and pages a short term boost before they settle down into their 'normal' position. After that it's the long slog to get ahead in the serps and stay there.

www. is a sub-domain of your domain name so if you're asked to specify www. or not at the domain level then I'd specify it there too.

Mike

Thanks mike,

Basically what ive done is tell google to point people to www. and used the 301 for non www.

What i cant understand is that if for example you go to google.co.uk and search for "Roof supplies" we will be on page 1, like we have been from the start and we are still there now.

BUT if you search for a term that would normally take you to a page other than our home page, it has completely disappeared overnight, for example:

Search "promenade tiles" which has been page 1, our site cannot be found anymore, i dont know why google has dropped it all together.

It seems to have lost all of our pages in the search that are not the home page.

Another example was "hedgehog gutter brush" that we were page 1 for, now its gone!

Maybe i need to give it a day or two for google to do whatever its doing.

Like i mentioned earlier, Google, alexa and bing seem to be liking the site, our Page rank has shot up dramatically and we have strong backlinks already.

Time will tell i guess.

[chris ashdown]

You are not allowed to use hedgehog's in the winter, they are meant to take it off as holiday and Hybernate untill spring, the RSPCH (Royal society Prevention of cruilty to hedgehogs will knock on your door very soon to complain

[RoofingWarehous]

You are not allowed to use hedgehog's in the winter, they are meant to take it off as holiday and Hybernate untill spring, the RSPCH (Royal society Prevention of cruilty to hedgehogs will knock on your door very soon to complain

Oh dear!

I wish i could Hybernate for the bloody winter!

[leehack]

In the early days, results in the SERPS are up and down like a whore's draw, you won't get anything concrete or solid in the first few months. Keep the faith, work hard and gauge how you are doing after 4-5 months. If it was that quick and easy, the next roofing site would just come along and wipe you off the face of the planet right? Longevity is a very key factor and the one thing you can do nothing about.

[RoofingWarehous]

In the early days, results in the SERPS are up and down like a whore's draw, you won't get anything concrete or solid in the first few months. Keep the faith, work hard and gauge how you are doing after 4-5 months. If it was that quick and easy, the next roofing site would just come along and wipe you off the face of the planet right? Longevity is a very key factor and the one thing you can do nothing about.

I totally agree with you! Impatient me! Haha

[Mike Hughes]

Hmmm.

I'm not sure what you had for 'promenade tiles' though.

I see you at position 46 but the results entry are:

Promenade Tiles – Walkway Tiles, Balcony Tiles and more ...
roofingwarehouse.co.uk/roofing-supplies/?p=14
17 Jan 2012 – We have a large selection of Promenade Tiles available now at Roofing ... Promenade tiles for your Flat Roof, Walkway, Balcony in 7 different ...

That doesn't look like an Actinic page to me and clicking it leads to an http 500 Internal server error.

You need to make sure whatever you had their previously gives a 404 error so Google knows it no longer exists. Otherwise you run the risk that the old pages block out the new ones.

Mike

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

What i cant understand is that if for example you go to google.co.uk and search for "Roof supplies" we will be on page 1, like we have been from the start and we are still there now.

BUT if you search for a term that would normally take you to a page other than our home page, it has completely disappeared overnight.

You also need to be careful that you are not seeing personalised search results from Google, as this can make it appear that you are ranking well when you are not.
If I search in Google for 'Roof Supplies' I see you site in position 27 (page 3).