301 Redirect vs. httpd alias?

I'm have a site that was listed at 128,000 over all that has been
totally knocked off of google.
Fun Fun.. So now I'm trying to recover and it's not looking so good..

This 301 redirect to a .htaccess for a url with out the "www" has my
attention tho.
Generally I declare an "alias" in my httpd.conf file for the domain
name with out the "www".
So that in my case, Apache will answer to the domain as either
www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com. In the past this has worked well but
I'm wondering if it's causing a problem now.

Is there a benefit to having a 301 redirect vs. the "Alias" in my
httpd.conf file? Would this cause the bot to think I have duplicate
information since DNS points both at the same IP?

Any comments are welcome.

Kind Regards,
Axten

On 26 Nov 2005 22:49:30 -0800, "axten" <seth (AT) dotjock (DOT) com> wrote:

I'm have a site that was listed at 128,000 over all that has been
totally knocked off of google.
Fun Fun.. So now I'm trying to recover and it's not looking so good..

This 301 redirect to a .htaccess for a url with out the "www" has my
attention tho.
Generally I declare an "alias" in my httpd.conf file for the domain
name with out the "www".
So that in my case, Apache will answer to the domain as either
www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com. In the past this has worked well but
I'm wondering if it's causing a problem now.

Is there a benefit to having a 301 redirect vs. the "Alias" in my
httpd.conf file? Would this cause the bot to think I have duplicate
information since DNS points both at the same IP?

Any comments are welcome.

Kind Regards,
Axten

Custom has it that the 301 redirect from one domain to the other is
the proper solution.
Mind, where www. and no www are concerned, I thought that part of the
recent update (which many, me loud among them, declare to be still
going on) was supposed to be sorting out these issues. So that might
be what's happening to your site, that could be why you aren't doing
so well at the moment. But I'd still use a 301 redirect.

BB
--
www.kruse.co.uk/ seo (AT) kruse (DOT) demon.co.uk
The buffalo have gone

axten wrote:

I'm have a site that was listed at 128,000 over all that has been
totally knocked off of google.
Fun Fun.. So now I'm trying to recover and it's not looking so good..

This 301 redirect to a .htaccess for a url with out the "www" has my
attention tho.
Generally I declare an "alias" in my httpd.conf file for the domain
name with out the "www".
So that in my case, Apache will answer to the domain as either
www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com.

In the past this has worked well but
I'm wondering if it's causing a problem now.

You should definitely choose one way or the other, and stick with it (ie
www or non-www). Your current issue may be unrelated, but I recommend
implementing that anyway, for longevity.

Is there a benefit to having a 301 redirect vs. the "Alias" in my
httpd.conf file? Would this cause the bot to think I have duplicate
information since DNS points both at the same IP?

Since both are resolved by the DNS to the same IP, then yes, you will,
(if not already), eventually be providing "duplicate content" to bots.


Here is code for resolving everything to the www option in .htaccess

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]


If you want further options, try UseCanonicalName at the apache site,
though I think the above will suffice.


My good deed for the day :-)