Absolute & Relative Links How Do They Rank?

The question for this article is whether or not you should use "absolute url's" or "relative url's"? Not only that, this article researches whether or not Google ranks these methods differently.

Absolute: You use the entire url pointing to the designated page.

ex. www.yoursite.com/page1/index.html

Relative: You use an automatic path to the file

ex. /page1/index.html

Relative gives a path that is "assumed". Your browser will automatically "assume" to put www.yoursite.com before the link.

When researching these two methods, I used 4 factors to consider:

20 Different popular search terms

Top 20 listings

Top 10 "Inbound Links" for pages within the site

Relative/Absolute urls NOT images

So here's the results of this study:

The average results within the 20 search terms had a ratio of: Absolute 40% / Relative 60%

The average inbound links for each site I researched had a ratio of: Absolute %50 / Relative 50%

So it seems safe to say that Google doesn't necessarily rank "absolute/relative" paths differently.

Google may recognize the fact that neither method is wrong, it only reflects the designers preference.

There's only 1 type of Absolute and Relative paths that get a bad rank. Web sites that use "tracking url's" or data base urls get a significant reduction in page rank emmediately.

The easiest way to notice this in action is to go to www.pogo.com (Online games). You would think that pogo has a great rank but nope, in fact their main page rank is 0/10. This happens because every time google crawls through their url, the site is different.

So if you care about page rank, keep your url's the same as the day your site was born!

About The Author

Martin Lemieux is leading the field online for web design and online advertising. Visit his company right away for many marketing tips & strategies: http://www.smartads.info

OASES - Online Advertising Search Engine Services

http://www.flyinggelatingames.com

The Web Clinic - FREE MARKETING TOOLS

http://www.thewebclinic.com

In The News:

---

Wordtracker Wisdom: Common Keyword Questions and Answers

One of my favorite subjects to teach on at our... Read More

Feed Those Hungry WIIFM Monsters, Get Them To Multiply

Everyone packs their website with keywords in order to feed... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Strategies Guaranteed to Skyrocket your Rankings

The point of optimizing your website is so that you... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Page Optimization (part 5/10)

In parts 1 - 4 you learnt how to develop... Read More

KEI Concerns and CID Alternative

Like many folks, I have been using KEI for some... Read More

Website Copy-writing for Higher Sales and Higher Search Engine Ranking

Why, you ask? Mainly, because search engines want to provide... Read More

Google Love - Five Top Tips To Make Google Love Your Site

1. Google love ...Google and all its programming is not... Read More

Importance of Keywords in Anchor Text or Title Text

Keywords are indisputably, the single most important element of an... Read More

7 Search Engine Optimization Mistakes and Solutions

To many websites, webmasters discover that major sources of website... Read More

Complete Web-Site Optimization For Search Engines (Part 1)

SEO or search engine optimization strategy now becomes widely popular... Read More

Quick Keyword Research that Works!!!

Keywords are terms or words related to particular topic. Keyword... Read More

Whats with the Competition? Ever Heard of Cooperation?

I attended the SES Expo in San Jose, CA the... Read More

.com Not Listed in Regional Yahoo? Don?t Despair!

If you're a non-American business with a .com web address,... Read More

Keep Your Web Site Content Relevant

Visitors and search engines love content-rich web sites, but just... Read More

How To Get Listed In Google For Free

Google does not accept payment for inclusion in their main... Read More

1 Simple SEO Strategy To Get More Visitors To Your Site From Google

Did you know that you can dramatically increase the number... Read More

Surviving Googles Aging Delay

Google has always been the search industry's innovator and that's... Read More

Should You Buy Text Links?

You can rank number one (Or at least in the... Read More

Search Engine Traffic: Winning With Content

Targeted traffic is the lifeblood of any online business. The... Read More

Optimum SEO Keyword Density ? A Real-Life Case Study

So you've built your website, you know what keywords you... Read More

Top 10 Little Used SEO Strategies

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed... Read More

Whats All This Hype About Links?

What's all the talk about links we hear about? Reciprocal... Read More

Why Optimize Your Site For Search Engines?

Sometimes a search engine optimization company will miss that glaring... Read More

King + Queen = Royal Success

Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search... Read More

A Simple 4 Step Approach To Have Google Crawl Your Site Today Guaranteed!

Extra, Extra Google Now Gives you feedback. By Creating a... Read More

The Myth of Guaranteed #1 Ranking in Search Engine Marketing

You've seen the ads: Guaranteed #1 Ranking! There are no... Read More

When to NOT Hire a SEO and Why

When you get an e-mail from SEO Company with content... Read More

7 Simple Steps to Spy on Your Online Competition and Acheive a High Page Rank

My Grandfather ran a small Grocery Store and when you... Read More

How To Design A Search Engine Friendly Website

There are many websites that fail to target their required... Read More

What is PageRank?

Chances are you have been on the Internet and have... Read More

Making Money with Popular Search Engines

With so many internet and home business opportunities on the... Read More

Internet Directory Submission Tips

Internet Directories and their ImportanceThere are two very pertinent reason... Read More

How to Improve Your Search Engine Positioning and Increase Traffic Today

Every website has times when traffic is higher than others.... Read More