What is a Preferred Domain?

Introduction

When managing a website, one crucial decision that should be made early on is setting the preferred domain. This refers to selecting how your site will be crawled and indexed by search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The preferred domain is the version of your website that you want to appear in search results and be consistently recognized by search engines.

A preferred domain can either be the "www" version (https://www.yoursite.com) or the non-www version (https://yoursite.com). The choice is ultimately up to you, and this will determine how search engines identify your site. It’s important to note that once you set a preferred domain, users will be redirected to that version, whether they type "www" or not.

Why Setting a Preferred Domain is Important

Setting a preferred domain for your website is not just a good practice—it’s essential. When you don’t set one, search engines might crawl and index both the "www" and non-"www" versions of your site as two separate entities. Although these versions may redirect to the same page, search engines could mistakenly treat them as two distinct websites. This can lead to issues like duplicate content, which negatively impacts your website's search rankings.

For example, Google and other search engines may penalize sites that display duplicate content across multiple URLs, even if the content is the same but located at different addresses (one with www and one without). Additionally, without a preferred domain, search engines may index the non-preferred URL, leading to confusion about whether your site has been properly indexed or not.

Choosing Between www and Non-www Versions

The decision to use "www" or not is largely a matter of preference and style. Large companies like Google prefer the "www" version, while others like Twitter choose not to use "www." This decision doesn't have a significant impact on the functionality of your site but plays an important role in ensuring consistency across search results.

How to Set Up Your Preferred Domain

To configure a preferred domain for your website, follow these simple steps:

1. Access the SEO Center tab in your Site Manager.
2. Click on Redirect Manager.
3. In the Preferred Domain field, select the version of your domain that you prefer—either with or without "www."

By doing so, you are ensuring that search engines and users are consistently directed to the correct version of your site.

Conclusion

Setting a preferred domain is a straightforward yet essential step for any website owner. It ensures that your site is indexed correctly by search engines and helps avoid potential issues like duplicate content and misidentification of your site. Whether you choose the "www" version or the non-"www" version, the most important thing is to make a decision and stick with it. This small step can have a significant impact on your website’s SEO and overall user experience.

For more detailed information about preferred domains, you can refer to Google’s guide.