(Redirecting non www URL’s to www URL’s)
KB ID 0001016
Problem
I noticed this a while back, apparently Google Analytics started flagging this for many users on October 14th 2014. But I’ve only just got round to sorting it out.
If you are seeing this error its because your site is ‘addressable’ in more than one way, in my case you could get to me via http://petenetlive and http://www.petenetlive.com. I could have registered both in ‘Google Webmaster Tools’, and set one as a preferred site, but I didn’t want to update my Analytics code (I’ve got custom stuff in there I don’t want to re-write). So my next option is to do a ‘301 redirect’.
Solution
1. I use Apache web server, and I have my own VPS, so I can pretty much do what I want, If you side is hosted you may need to ask them to ensure that the rewrite_module is loaded on your web server. If you have your own you will need to take a look at your httpd.conf file.
2. Make sure that (like below), there is a line that is not commented out, that reads;
3. Now in the root of your website edit (or create) the .htaccess file. And pate the following onto the end of it, (change accordingly);
4. Save and upload the file (If using Notepad, make sure it does not put a .txt extension on the end of the filename – it should have NO extension).
5. Now go to http://your-website.com, (It will probably still work because your browser will attempt to load the page from its cache, so press CTRL+F5 to force refresh). If should redirect to http://www/your-website.com
6. To make doubly sure you can go here and type in http://your-website.com it should say something like;
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Date => Thu, 04 Dec 2014 19:41:48 GMT
Server => Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
Location => http://www.petenetlive.com/
Vary => Accept-Encoding
Content-Type => text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
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7. Back in Google Analytics, select ‘Check again’.
5. It should say this.
6. Then it will say this ‘for ages!’.
Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links
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