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Internal links: full path or relative? Any affect on SEO?

by amerigo
9 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Does it make a difference (note, keyword is in my domain) if i

a: create my links with absolute path (href="http domain path")
or
b: create my links with relative path (href="path")

note: someday i will actually be to 15 posts, and can post this in the SEO section of the forums.
#affect #full #internal #links #path #relative #seo
  • Profile picture of the author amerigo
    anyone?

    I guess i'll just have to try both and see.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    I am by no means an expert in SEO, but my guess would be that is doesn't matter. The reason for internal links, as I understand it, is so the bot can find its way around your site. So as long as the links will get you to the page you intend to get to, that is what matters.

    In a site map, I don't think that the repetition of your full domain name is either productive or looks good. Of course, I have never been accused of having any style sense.

    Anyway, hopefully someone that actually knows will stop by and answer, but that is my opinion. For what it is worth.
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    Tim Pears

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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I haven't tested using absolute vs. relative links for SEO purposes, so I can't help you there.

      One thing I can tell you, should you decide to use absolute links, is to be consistent. Decide whether you will use the www. version or not, and always do it that way for every link, whether it's onsite or off.

      As far as the search engines go,
      Code:
      some-domain-name.com
      and
      Code:
      www.some-domain-name.com
      are different animals.

      As a practical matter, if I'm going to hand-build pages for a site, I'll use the absolute URLs. That way, if I decide to move a page from, say, the main directory to a subdirectory, I won't break the links or have to remember to recode them...
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      • Profile picture of the author WritingMadwoman
        I've always been curious about this too. When I hand code pages I always use the full URL. But I notice when I insert links using XSitePro it does the abbreviated version. I don't worry about it too much because they both work, but it would be interesting if anyone has tracked this to know for sure which is preferred by search engines (if either is).

        Wendy
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  • Profile picture of the author Nbordeau
    I would go with the full link, just to be safe. Especially if it has your main keyword in it.
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  • Profile picture of the author landcentral
    Go full link for the benefit of having your keyword in your URL. If you just link to /index.htm then you lose the on page benefit of having widgets.com/index.htm if your site is about widgets.
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  • Profile picture of the author askloz
    absolute urls have a greater impact ie http://yourdomain.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Amenda Jessera
    I think using full URL is more adviseable.... There will no more risk.....
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  • Profile picture of the author freelistfool
    It doesn't matter unless someone steals your content and posts it on another site. Just in case I try to use the absolute path wherever possible. Then when my content gets stolen it ends up being links back to my site instead of links back to the domain where the thief posted my content.
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