Using <base> tags vs Link rel=canonical vs other methods - which does Google prefer?

Hi guys,

I recently came across a site using the <base href="http://www.domain.com/"></base> on their domain http://www.domain.com/default.asp seemingly to combat canonicalisation issues - is this right??

I have never seeen this used for this purpose, but reading further it seems it can be used.

I was wondering what everyone thought about using this method againsts using <link rel='canonical' etc and any other methods?

Many thanks,

Misch

 

base href= is for when using relative links on a page to say what they are relative to. ie ./pics/1.gif

link rel='canonical' is when 2 pages have the same content to say what the correct url to list in serps is. ie
domain.com/index.html domain.com/

 

To solve canonical [duplicate content] issues, use canonical link element:

mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/

 

rel canonical every time! It seems to be SEO flavour of the month (well last year anyway)!