Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by David Jones on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/13/2014).

When I include "www" after the "site:" operator, it shows zero indexed result but I see results with the "www" omitted, how is that possible?

when using Google to check if a site is indexed whats the difference between site:my_domain.com and site:www.my_domain.com? I`ve just been testing some sites of mine and when I include www in there it shows as zero indexed results but with the www omitted I see many pages indexed.
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • David Jones: when using Google to check if a site is indexed whats the difference between site:my_domain.com and site:www.my_domain.com? Ive just been testing some sites of mine and when I include www in there it shows as zero indexed results but with the www omitted I see many pages indexed. ;
  • Edwin Jonk: Technically the www is a subdomain and, thereby, the www and non-www are two complete different domains. Googlebot treats them as separate domains, but Google Search will normally "merge" them as one. ;

    So both can differ. Are you sure you implemented the 301 or rel canonical correctly?
  • Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 01:26:49 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/when_i_include_quotwwwquot_after_the_quotsitequot_operator_it_shows_zero_indexed_result_but_i_see_results_with_the_quotwwwquot_omitted_how_is_that_possible +David Jones

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  • J. Alexander Curtis: Www and non-www are two different sites which is why you get two different results.

    Www is just a sub domain used in the early days of the web to indicate an actual publicly available website (World Wide Web, hence www). Of course new server technology now doesn't require a subdomain which is why it works without one.

    The www tradition just stuck with many people. Most whom don't understand the history. So now you need to choose one or the other and most web hosts will wildcard redirect you back to the correct one. Because of this "automatic" redirect, many people have gained bad habits of thinking the two are interchangeable. From a functional standpoint they are... But from a technical standpoint they are different.

    So. With the history lesson aside this is what you need to do. Figure out which one your real website is actually on (most hosts default to non-www nowadays). Then you should go into google webmaster tools and indicate to google which one you intend to use permanently. Now whenever you get/ distribute links make sure or use the correct one. Slowly google will start combining your results. Usually the GWT trick fixes most of it. It tends to take 1-2 months before the results start taking effect.

    Good luck. 

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/13/2014).

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