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Reader question: What type of link is better for getting search engine rankings: an absolute or a relative link?

Answer: This reader question raises some good points. Some items on a page might be good for site usability and sales conversions, but they might make no difference as to whether a site ranks or not.

In terms of search engine visibility, it does not matter if you use absolute or relative links on your Web site. The search engines automatically convert relative links into an absolute links. However, using absolute links will not make a site rank higher merely because Webmasters choose to use absolute links on their sites.

Absolute and relative links

For those of you who do not know the difference between an absolute and relative link, the following examples should make it clearer.

An absolute link defines a specific location of the Web file or document including: the protocol to use to get the document, the server to get it from, the directory it is located in, and the name of the document itself. Below is an example of an absolute link:

<a href="http://www.domain.com/pagename.html"></a>

With a relative link, the search engine spiders and browsers already know where the current document is located. Thus, if you link to another document in the same directory, you will not need to write out the full URL. Only the file name is necessary. Below is an example of a relative link:

<a href="pagename.html"></a>

Notice that the domain name or the http://www is not included in this type of link.

Personally? I tend to use relative links because the shorter code can decrease a page's download time - less code means a faster download time. However, if I have a client that prefers to use absolute links, then I will use absolute links on the site. Use whatever link type you are more comfortable using.

The only exception is when I optimize PDF files. With PDFs, I always use absolute links.

Absolute links and PDF files

Even though using relative links will not affect search engine visibility, I make an exception with PDF files.

Reason? People commonly email PDF files to each other, or they download PDF files to their desktops. If you place a relative link in your PDF files and try to click on that link from your desktop (or email), the Web page will not load.

In order for the page to load properly from your desktop or email, the PDF-file links should be absolute links.

I know this question is coming: do search engines follow the links inside of a PDF file? The answer is yes. Both Yahoo and Google can follow the links inside of a PDF file.

Always consider your site visitors and target audience. Yahoo and Google will not download a PDF to their desktop or email them. But your target audience will. So I recommend using absolute links inside all of your PDF documents.

URL structure and link development

One tip I constantly hear from many search engine marketers (SEMs) is to put keywords in the domain name, subdirectory, and page name. For some search engines, keyword-rich URLs have no impact on rankings. Other search engines use it as a component of their algorithms, but the impact is very small. So I don't obsess over this optimization strategy.

What concerns me more is to name my Web pages in a manner that my target audience might use. I have already written about this topic extensively. I have included links to these articles at the bottom of this page.

Since Google uses anchor text pointing to a Web document to help determine relevancy, many SEMs like to create URLs like the following:

http://www.keyword1domain.com/keyword2/keyword3.html

What they are hoping that other Web sites will do is link to their company in the following manner.

<p>Company name and keywords
<a href=" http://www.keyword1domain.com/keyword2/keyword3.html"> http://www.keyword1-domain.com/keyword2/keyword3.html </a>
<br />
Short description of company name using keywords.</p>

For those of you who do not code, I will explain this strategy. The hypertext link in the above example is placed around the keyword-rich URL. Since major keywords are separated by a hyphen (-), forward slash (/), and period (.), SEMs believe that the anchor text in the URL will help boost keyword emphasis. Technically? They might be correct in this assessment. However, many SEMs only think about rankings. They do not always consider site usability or how people actually link.

The reality is that when other Web site owners link to your URL, they don't place the URL within the hypertext link. They often do not display the URL at all. Rather, they link to the company name, page title, or headline (depending on what text is of value to the Web site owner), as follows:

<p> <strong><a href="http://www.keyword1domain.com/keyword2/keyword3.html">
</a>Company name and keywords</strong>
<br />
Short description of company name using keywords, if applicable to the Web site owner.</p>

In fact, you can sometimes detect spam link farms when you see the overuse of keywords in URLs. What do you think is more important to your target audience: keyword-loaded URLs or content that actually contains important query words?

Using keywords in URLs is a poor substitute for keyword-rich content.

Conclusion

When deciding what type of links you wish to use on your site, always consider your site's visitors first and foremost. Download time does not affect search engine rankings, but it does affect sales conversions. Using too many absolute links on your Web pages can have a negative impact on download time.

Related links

URL Structure and Search Engine Optimization
Keyword-rich URLs and Search Engine Visibility - Part 1
Keyword-rich URLs and Search Engine Visibility - Part 2
Search Engines and Web Site Directory Structure

Shari Thurow is Marketing Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc., a full-service search engine marketing, web and graphic design firm. This article is excerpted from her book, Search Engine Visibility (http://www.searchenginesbook.com) published in January 2003 by New Riders Publishing Co. Shari can be reached at shari@grantasticdesigns.com.

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