"WWW." versus Non - "www."

[thinkbiglearnsmart]

Our web developer recently changed our preferred domain from "www.thinkbiglearnsmart.com" to "thinkbiglearnsmart.com" so when I check the authority of the "www." it is higher than the "thinkbiglearnsmart.com." do you have any insight onto if we should just make our preferred URL "www." because that's how it was for years? Is there a way just to merge the two back together so it is not sort of having different information for the same site?

Thank you!

[thinkbiglearnsmart]

Thank you so much!

I am contacting my developer about this!

[RebekahMay]

Looking at OSE for that domain, both sites have links pointing to them.  So a preferred version should be chosen, and as Dana suggested, a 301 put in place.  Since G+ 1s were also considered a ranking factor in Moz's latest update, I would take that into account as well, but interestingly enough it looks like +1s are appropriately applied regardless of the www version.

You don't have a large amount of links or authority built up yet, so ultimately it will not make a huge difference which one you choose, but it is important to stick with one and ensure the other is 301'd appropriately. The non-www has more links, but the www has more links from different domains - so if you did make a choice I would choose the www to get the authority from more linking domains.

The www has slightly higher page authority as well.

www version:

Page Authortity: 35

Linking domains: 12

Total Links 22

G+ 1s: 36

Non WWW Version

Page Authority: 27

Domain Authority: 25

Linking Domains 4

Total Links 164

Google +1s: 36

In response to your WMT question, preferred domain settings are now in the top right hand corner as an option under the gear icon under "site settings"

[thinkbiglearnsmart]

Hi there - it is to the right at the top next to "help" under settings - It's called site settings!

[thinkbiglearnsmart]

Thanks so much Dana!

[socialengaged]

I don't see the set preferred url section in webmasters tool anymore.. any hint on that as well?

[danatanseo]

Yes, in my opinion you should change it back to the "www." version and set that as your preferred version in Google Webmaster Tools. Also, make sure you have your developer 301-redirect the non-www version to your "www." version. This will unify your domain authority, which it appears has been fragmented by the two co-existing.  You want to give preference to the one with the strongest authority. In this case it sounds like the "www." version is the way to go.

Something else to keep in mind is to have consistency in the way you are linking. If "www." is your preferred, then make sure that you are using that version when requesting backlinks, leaving comments on a blog or even creating print pieces (i.e. business cards). It will encourage other people linking to you to use the preferred version.

Hope that helps!

Dana