I was wondering which one is better to use in the code for insite links if I am using a base href of "http//www.example.com". Should I use the full http address or not? These both work, but which is the accepted way, or are there no SEO preferences involved? <li><a href="/forums" title="Example Forums">Example Forums</a></li> or <li><a href="http://www.example.com/forums/" title="Example Forums">Example Forums</a></li>. Can anyone give me some input please? Thank you, Scifipie Guy
You should use Absolute urls. Less chances of error/broken links. Your domain name is repeated in the code, which is good. Easier to bookmark.
Absolute or Relative Urls do not matter. Browsers and SE's know what the document path is and automatically 'do the math' to arrive at the fully qualified Url. In fact, all relative Urls are assumed to be for the domain the page is coming from and saves them the process of comparing the current domain with the full Url to see if they match. As for Bookmarks, you get that from the Address bar and not the code on the page. Relative Urls are easier to deal with for maintenance and portability. I use relative Urls for all linking, except for the copyright link in the footer which is fully qualified Url (Why? I dunno. Just a habit). If you move your files from one directory to another, for instance, there is no need to rifle through all of your links and adjust the Urls.