SEO advice: url canonicalization

19.10.06

Thanks to MaxD for posting this..
You index page gone MIA Dave

well it looks like google has it’s url canonicalization problems back again.. ok I show you how I would fix it.

first off, what is a Google url canonicalization error, well it’s when Google miss handles your url.

www.davidnaylor.co.uk v davidnaylor.co.uk.

well I www.davidnaylor.co.uk has Ranked #1 for DaveN, dave naylor and david naylor for ages.. and today I see this.

not good I guess. ok so this is what i’m going to do
a) setup a 301 in a mod rewrite ..

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

b) set the www default in Google Webmaster Tools (sitemaps)

c) wait and see what happens, of course it could be a ban or something maybe Matt didn’t like me offering seo advice to my readers or the fact I got more readers than him heheh :) .. lol

DaveN

8 Comments

  • 1

    if you only have access to htcaccess which a good number will only have then you can do the following:

    http://www.threadwatch.org/node/2817#comment-16701

    I am not sure why they struggle with this.

    ukgimp
    http://www.ukgimp.co.uk

    19th October 2006 @ 09:50

  • 2

    > if you only have access to htcaccess which a good number will only have

    Except for all the ones on IIS - they usually have access to nothing (unless its dedicated server where they put an ISAPI filter on) :)

    Mikkel deMib Svendsen
    http://www.demib.com

    19th October 2006 @ 11:20

  • 3

    i was going to mention the poor buggers on IIS, but they are animals, so who cares lol

    ukgimp
    http://www.ukgimp.co.uk

    19th October 2006 @ 12:11

  • 4

    Dave,

    It’s worse for you here (in Boston). You come up 8th for the same search. You can see the screenshot here:

    http://www.stonetemple.com/images/DaveNaylor.gif

    Eric Enge
    http://www.stonetemple.com/blog

    19th October 2006 @ 12:54

  • 5

    IIS users can use PHP or ASP to create a 301 header redirect. If you scroll further down in the threadwatch link posted by ukgimp you’ll get the PHP for it - http://www.threadwatch.org/node/2817#comment-16721

    SarahG
    http://www.sarahfreelance.co.uk

    20th October 2006 @ 22:14

  • 6

    Wow… you’re so cool that I can buy you on eBay. I guess that’s just one-upping Dax, who only sold his moustache. Good show.

    Brian Mark
    http://blogs.toolbarn.com/brianm/

    23rd October 2006 @ 15:27

  • 7

    The approach you describe will work perfectly. I have been doing this with my domains for years now, and it helps with both analytics and SEO.

    Nate K
    http://www.theklaibers.com

    2nd November 2006 @ 18:45

  • 8

    UKgimp hates the poor people on IIS. You used to be poor once!!! ;)

    Richardb

    5th November 2006 @ 03:58

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