Google webmaster tools set preferred domain

The latest Google Search Console has different way of handing preferred domains. When adding a new property, you have two options:. For URL prefix method, simply enter the correct URL of your site which is a preferred domain and click continue button.

Google will show multiple options for verifying the ownership of your site. If you have already installed Google Analytics then the site will be automatically verified using that tag.

If you are changing the version of your site from www to non-www or vice versa, then you can use URL prefix option to submit the new site address. However, make sure to setup proper redirect from old address to new address to retain your ranking.

Once you change your preferred domain settings, it may take considerable time for Google to display correct URLs in the search results. The URLs belonging to the non-preferred domain will be still showing in the searches till the time Google refreshes the indexing of those pages. This is the reason you may be seeing both www and non-www versions of your URLs in the searches once you set your preferred domain.

Setting s preferred domain is not an optional choice for webmasters since it has an impact on following thins:. If you are intended to use any sub-domains like blog. If you do not submit the URL prefix properly, then Google will count these two links as separate links and hence you may lose your inbound link popularity.

When you submit and verify the domain, then Google will consider all links pointing your site for the domain regardless of whether it consists of www or not. This helps to improve the link popularity of your site and you may not need to worry about the version of your inbound links at all.

As the link popularity and backlink count are having high weightage on search engine ranking of your pages, by not setting a preferred domain your pages may be ranked low in the search results. If you see no data for your site in Google Search Console, the possibility is that the other version of your site is indexed by Google.

Some people believe that the full domain adds some value to their SEO, some others believe the inverse. If you type Google. If you have lots of backlinks, then, this will add real value to your domain, you need one single address and not two of them. Fathi Arfaoui is a Physicist, Blogger and the founder of Trustiko. He shares Business, WordPress and Blogging tips to build a better blog and succeed online. Why setting a preferred domain for your site?

How many backlinks you have to your blog? Do you know the anchor text in these links? To set tell Google about the right version fo domain you like, just follow the next easy steps: The first thing you need is to add your secondary domain name to your Google webmaster tools to verify your ownership.

Or how do I check I did it right? Google takes this automatically from your canonical link tag. Additional Tips : If you move your site from http to https, then edit your internal webpage, and link to https version of your site. It helps to recover in drop traffic. You can use Google Webmaster Tools to find out which page is linked from which webpages. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.

Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Asked 5 years, 11 months ago. Active 2 years, 11 months ago.

Viewed 5k times. Improve this question. MrWhite BlackSky86 BlackSky86 51 1 1 silver badge 4 4 bronze badges. Setting example.