Adding a 301 redirect to my website

[Greg Russell]

I've been working on SEO for my website, and I used the free service Website Grader as a preliminary test to see what needs to be done. They said that one thing I need to do is to add a 301 redirect to my code. If you don't know, basically a 301 redirect takes a potential viewer to the website whether they type in the "www." or not.

I looked this up, and although it looks complicated, I think I can do it. But, if I type in my website, simply "mywebsite.com" it takes me to my website, "www.mywebsite.com". So, my question is, is a 301 redirect already in place and Website Grader didn't recognize it?

My site is hosted through BlueHost, if that matters. Also, as I said, this looks complicated, but if anyone knows of a simple way to do it, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks, and cheers!

[Jens Peermann]

Most likely, your browser remembers the URL from a previous session and completes it automatically. If it is the result of a redirect, the URL in the address bar will read "http://mywebsite.com" instead of "http://www.mywebsite.com".

[Hikin Mike]

I also use Website Grader. I do suggest adding a 301 redirect so you get "credit" for both sites.

I'm not familiar with BlueHost, but there should be a control panel to make a '.htaccess' to add a 301. If not, you can always use a text editor like 'Notepad ++' and do it yourself....

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mywebsite\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mywebsite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Then upload that file to your root directory.

EDIT: Of course you'll have to change the 'mywebsite' to your's!