assigning "www" to domain

  • I’m at my wits end with this one.
    First I should note that the site is hosted through Hostgator so I have access to all the necessary files, etc.
    What I’m trying to accomplish is to set the domain to include the “www” prefix. Granted, in the admin under “general” the option to assign www to the domain does the trick, but this apparently simple tweak wreaks havoc with verification in Google webmaster tools and the Google XML sitemap generator plugin – rendering indexing null…
    I’ve read a litany of information on Mod_rewrite rules and I’ve tried that to no avail as well. Moreover, when I change the mod_rewrite in the .htaccess file I’m not certain as to whether I’m supposed to leave the existing write-up intact or overwrite it? I cannot seem to find this information anywhere, so I’ve tweaked this and that, again to no avail…
    I would list the domain, but this is an issue on every one of the 18 or so sites that I manage, so I will refrain from listing them all.
    There has to be an easy solution to this so I can have the “www” and also use the sitemap generator and webmaster tools together.
    Thank you in advance for your time and patience.

    ~Scott

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  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    You might have to add in the www version of the site to Google for it to catch it, but … why? I mean, so long as the www can redirect to the non-www version, why would you change it?

    Google’s webmaster tools treats the www and non-www versions as two different sites, so you have to do the verification process on both. (You don’t have to re-add the verification code they give you, just add the other version of the site as a new site and click on ‘verify’.) Then specify in webmaster tools which version you want Google to index.

    I can see why you’d want to have the www show-up in the domain, phenomenoodle, and I know that there has to be a way for it to work (without messing up your Google XML plug-in, because I have that).

    I had my brother-in-law (who hosts my site) fix it up so that it loads with a www rather than without.

    Personally, I think it looks more professional and while it’s a minor tweak, I suppose for those of us who are a bit particular, can understand. ??

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Jeremiah

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