Directory Submission - which is right?

From Newbie:
http://www.domain.com
OR
http://www.domain.com/ (with forward slash / )
which is the right one and what is the difference between the two?
Or Simply www.domain.com

 

As far as I know, trailing slash makes no difference from seo perspective, but it does reduce server load (since there's no redirect involved). I always add it with all my directory submissions to reduce my server load.

Google also uses it, so why not use it yourself?
(I don't understand why yahoo/msn does not follow suits)...

 

What do you server load, and how that can effect my site?

 

Without the trailing slash, browser and web server would need an additional handshake betn them to retrieve a correct default document (e.g., index.html, index.php, etc) from the root directory. This means the server needs to process an additional http request..

 

I'm not sure of all the technical jargon but go with the trailing slash. Google can see

www.whatever.com

and

www.whatever.com/

as actual seperate sites at least with Pagerank.

 

romow:

Second Query:

and what is the difference than for:
http://www.domain.com/
and
http://www.domain.com/index.htm or index.php
from directory submission point of view/getting backlinks?

 

If you are aiming for PR, building backlinks to domain.com/ will automatically pass PR to /index.php, but not the other way around. So I wouldn't build backlinks to /index.htm.

 

Good answer!
You get rep from me.

 

I think your browser will automatically put in a trailing slash for you.

In my directory I don't allow it and manually add it in.

 

I always add the slash. save some load.

 

romow:
If you are aiming for PR, building backlinks to domain.com/ will automatically pass PR to /index.php, but not the other way around. So I wouldn't build backlinks to /index.htm.

Thanks;
Will it hurt if you build back links both for domain.com/
and /index.php?

 

I guess building backlinks to those two urls separately would split the page strength of the main site between the two. Why would do that if you are spending money on link building? If I were you, I would instead build backlinks to different internal pages (e.g., domain.com/internal1/). Good luck,

 

thanks romow: It surely makes sense.