# Getting full credit for inbound links to your website

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/04/02/getting-full-credit-inbound-links-your-website/
- Published: 2007-04-02T10:46:57+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

It is so easy to miss the obvious when it comes to promoting a charity’s website.
Inbound links to a website are of course very valuable in ensuring a high search
ranking on key search engines such as Google. However, you might find that you are
needlessly dissipating the effect of these links.

The ever practical Dr Ralph Wilson features useful advice in his latest issue of
Web Marketing Today. An article by Ross Dunn of StepForth Search Engine Placement
Inc. in Victoria, Canada, points out that you should “[consolidate WWW and non-WWW Links](http://www.wilsonweb.com/linking/dunn-www-linkpopularity.htm)“.
By this he means that some websites might link to this site as “fundraising.co.uk”
and others as “www.fundraising.co.uk”. Unfortunately search engines interpret these
as two different sites. “If your website has been linked to from other websites 
using a mix of the two URLs you are effectively splitting the potential benefit 
of valuable link popularity.”

You should therefore ensure that all inbound links point to a standard URL. Dunn
recommends you opt for the “www” variation, and offers a range of tips on how to
achieve this. In particular he suggests a [server-side 301 redirect](http://www.stepforth.com/faq/non-www-redirect.htm).

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

That should improve your organisation’s search engine rankings.

 * **[Institute announces shortlist for National Awards](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/04/03/institute-announces-shortlist-national-awards/)**(
   3 April 2007)
 * **[Three is a magic number](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/04/05/three-magic-number/)**(
   5 April 2007)
 * **[About](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/04/11/about-100/)** (11 April 2007)
