Point to .com or .com/ or .com/index.htm?

Buskerdoo · 02-09-2005, 01:15 PM

For SE reasons, where is it better to have external and internal links point to:

xyz.com
xyz.com/
or
xyz.com/index.htm

I figure it doesn't matter just concentrate all links to one of them.

sundancerz · 02-09-2005, 03:19 PM

I don't think the / will make any difference with ot without and I never use index.htm or html it could change then those links are worthless.

dcristo · 02-09-2005, 04:30 PM

It doesn't matter just as long as your consistent with your linking.

I think it's always best using the actual domain without referencing the index page, just incase in the future you may change the file extensions you have no need to go out and change your backlinks.

jg_v7n · 02-09-2005, 04:56 PM

It is sometimes good to be inconsistent with link targets - the same as with anchor text - if they are all the same it can look unnatural ("unorganic" is is sometimes called). There is a good section on this in Text Link Ads Link Buying Guide (ignore the fact that this guide is geared torwards paid links - the same should apply to all links, it is a very good guide to linking in general) http://www.text-link-ads-inventory.com/dolibugu.html

Johan007 · 02-10-2005, 04:38 AM

Internal pages simply use "/"

eg: <a href="/">home page</a>

For other pages I would use the correct URL standard:

<a href="http://www.domain.com/">Web Site Name</a>

(but you can use it without / at the end just fine in the real world)

Linking to index.htm may but very unlikely trigger a duplicate content filter unless you redirect to your index page directly via the domain and even this is bad practice as you lose on page SEO benefits.