Because the people that run the most popular search engine on earth do not use common sense, all web masters must add a special code to their .htaccess file.
The problem: Google will list you way lower on their search result pages if you have what is called duplicate content. And the worst part is that you actually don't have to have duplicate content to get punished. You know how most sites you can just type in the domain name without the "www's". Well, if you have that feature, which by the way makes total sense, Google thinks of it as two domains pointing to the same site and consequently treats you as a "domain hog". That is the term used around here to describe a company that buys bunches of domain names and points them at the same site. In fact, this is the reason Google created this philosophy. But, far more legitimate sites are paying the consequence.
The fix: To address potential duplicate content penalties, manipulate your.htaccess file and redirect secondary domains to the preferred listing. This means every time a web user enters the mysite.com address without the preferred prefix, they are redirected to the correct domain.
Add the following code to your .htaccess file (change the "mysite" to your domain):
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mysite.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mysite.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]
Your server administrator may have to do this for you. The .htaccess file is usually hidden within your control panel. You must enable the "show system files" option.
Thanks
Brad Taylor
The problem: Google will list you way lower on their search result pages if you have what is called duplicate content. And the worst part is that you actually don't have to have duplicate content to get punished. You know how most sites you can just type in the domain name without the "www's". Well, if you have that feature, which by the way makes total sense, Google thinks of it as two domains pointing to the same site and consequently treats you as a "domain hog". That is the term used around here to describe a company that buys bunches of domain names and points them at the same site. In fact, this is the reason Google created this philosophy. But, far more legitimate sites are paying the consequence.
The fix: To address potential duplicate content penalties, manipulate your.htaccess file and redirect secondary domains to the preferred listing. This means every time a web user enters the mysite.com address without the preferred prefix, they are redirected to the correct domain.
Add the following code to your .htaccess file (change the "mysite" to your domain):
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mysite.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mysite.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]
Your server administrator may have to do this for you. The .htaccess file is usually hidden within your control panel. You must enable the "show system files" option.
Thanks
Brad Taylor
