I’m always shocked to note how large web sites don’t invest in basic SEO. Seriously, there’s a massive market to be had if a slick and slimy SEO and convince big web sites they can capitalise on some very basic SEO tactics. Case in point? Canadian sports network Sportsnet. I was checking out the latest trade rumors (NHL trading deadline today) and typed in the web site ‘https://sportsnet.ca’. Well would you know, error page. What? Sites down?! Too many trades going on. So I put the addy in Google and what do I get? The www version of Sportsnet.
Let me get this straight, Sportsnet, massive network, is so shortsided they can’t implement a 301 redirect for their non-www version to the www? It won’t even load folks! Errors galore! I also noticed they use IIS, big mistake there :P Imagine how much extra traffic they’d garner employing some simple SEO techniques–they’d trump TSN!
Remember, the version you are not using redirect using a permanent 301-redirect AND also declare your correct version in Google Webmaster Tools. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, but stick to one. And yes, UNIX is much easier to redirect than IIS, but it can be done in IIS nonetheless.